IRISH PEOPLE SPENT an extra €90 million on their Christmas grocery shopping last year, a new report has found.

Over the Christmas period, the average household spent a record €1,532 on groceries – an increase of €38 compared to last year, according to figures released by research body Kantar.

The figures compiled by the firm relate to spending in the 12 weeks ending 31 December 2017.

Among the retailers, Dunnes Stores remained the top Irish supermarket with the grocer capturing market share of 23.0% – up 0.3% from last year. Tesco finished up on 22.8% while SuperValu finished just behind on 22.4%. Lidl and Aldi received 10.4% and 10.3% of the market share respectively.

Kantar director David Berry said that the increase in the spending was driven by staple items, with fruit, vegetables, meat and poultry posting a combined sales increase of €28 million.

He said: “Shoppers were also partial to a Christmas tipple with sales of alcohol up almost 6% – a boost of €13 million. Wine was the drink of choice this year with white wine and red wine sales up an impressive 10% and 12% respectively.”

The trend towards online shopping shows no signs of slowing down with online grocers experiencing impressive sales growth of 24%.

Berry added: “Online grocers experienced impressive sales growth of 24%, which boosted their share of the market to a record 2.3% over the Christmas period.  Although grocery e-commerce shoppers haven’t increased in number, customers who already shop online have upped the frequency of their purchases with, on average, one extra order placed over this period.”

Read: Aldi staff will now earn the €11.70 an hour living wage >

Read: This supermarket in Swords won’t stop trolling the Lidl next door >

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