New figures today show that grocery price inflation reached 3.7% in the 12 weeks to March 20 - the highest level since October 2013 - as inflation rather than Covid was the main driver of changes to consumer behaviour in Ireland.
As spiralling costs hit consumers, supermarket prices are also increasing.
Kantar said the number of products sold on promotion has dropped by 5.7% as the grocers look to mitigate supply chain pressures.
A marked increase in the average price of staples like bread, butter and toilet paper over the last 12 weeks have also been seen.
Retailers' own lines now account for 46.3% of total grocery sales. Headlines around shortages of pasta and flour have also seen sales of those products soar, with both categories boosted by 22% and 30% respectively during the month of March, today's figures show
Kantar said that Irish supermarket sales fell by 7.3% over the 12 week period.
Sales are still up on 2020 - although only by 1.3% - as the comparison now includes the record demand for groceries before the first national lockdown in March 2020.
Shoppers here spent €78.2m less on take-home groceries in the four weeks to March 20 as the remaining Covid-19 restrictions were dropped across the country and people returned to pubs, cafés, and restaurants and bought less food in supermarkets.
Emer Healy, senior retail analyst at Kantar, said the latest data period marks two years since the first Covid lockdown.
"It's becoming clearer which pandemic grocery habits are here to stay. The growth of online shopping has been one of the most staggering shifts to shopper behaviour in recent memory, with all retailers now offering some form of online shopping," Ms Healy said.
She said that since 2018, online's share of the market has grown by 3.1 percentage points, a boost largely driven by couples without children who are natural converts to online technology.
"Since the same period in 2018, the proportion of this demographic buying online has nearly doubled, going from 14% to 26% in March 2022. By 2024, we estimate that online will hold a 6.6% share of total grocery sales - a figure which would have seemed crazy before Covid-19 came along," she added.
Today's figures from Kantar also show that all of the major retailers saw take-home grocery sales fall in the 12 weeks to 20 March 2022.
Emer Healy said the competition between the grocers is ramping up as people hunt for the best deals.
"Those grocers with strong messaging on lower average prices and promotional offers are best placed to come out on top," she noted.
Dunnes retained its position as the country's largest grocer and holds a 22.4% market share in the 12 weeks to March 20.
SuperValu has pipped Tesco to second place, with the retailers claiming a market share of 21.6% and 21.3% respectively.
Lidl follows behind with a 13% share of the market, while Aldi holds 12.4%.
