Irish grocery sales in the four weeks up to January 26 increased by 6.5% compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from Kantar.

This was despite grocery price inflation increasing 3.4%, which is slightly lower than last month.

January also saw shoppers returning to store more often, making on average 23 trips to store but picking up less volume per trip, which was down 1.6% versus last year.

Emer Healy, business development director at Kantar, noted that supermarkets were "rolling out discounts in the New Year, as a way of easing the pressure on household budgets".

“Spending on promotion rose by 8.4% with shoppers spending an additional €72 million versus last year. This is the highest level of sales on promotion we’ve seen since February 2021," she said.

Irish shoppers also turned to own label products to help keep costs down in January, sales of these products jumped 6.9% compared to last year with an additional €103.9 million being spent.

Overall own label holds 44% value market share. Brands also saw growth this year, albeit behind the total market at 5.3% compared to last year.

During the period, shoppers were focused on health and wellness with an additional €8.9 million spent on fresh fruit and vegetables combined.

January also saw a boost in healthcare, up 8.6%. compared the same period to last year.

“Dry January was in full swing this year with 6.2% of all Irish households purchasing non-alcoholic drinks in January.

“However, not everyone took part in Dry January this year as shoppers also spend an additional €7 million on beer and cider," Healy said.

Online sales rose by 14.5% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional €27.4 million.

Over the latest 12-week period, the number of online shopping trips increased by 11.7%, while new shopper recruits arrived at online with over 19% of Irish households purchasing online.

Storm Éowyn which hit the country at the end of January was the most powerful storm in years, resulting in the first nationwide Status Red weather warning since 2017.

The storm impacted shopping habits, with consumers stocking up on necessities, leading to Tesco (+8.9%), Dunnes (+8.1%), and SuperValu (+8.5%) outperforming the total market throughout January (+6.5%).

Over the latest 12 weeks, Dunnes holds a new record 25% market share, with a sales growth of 7% year-on-year.

Tesco holds 24.1% of the market, with value growth of 6.5% year-on-year and SuperValu holds 20.3% of the market with growth of 4.2%.

Lidl holds a 12.4% share of total spending, up 4.7%, while Aldi holds 10.7% market share up 4.5% versus last year.