New figures show from Kantar show that grocery price inflation hit 14.7% in the 12 weeks to November 27 - the highest level seen since Kantar started tracking inflation.
Market researcher Kantar said the average annual grocery bill is set to rise from €7,037 to €8,071, an extra €1,034 a year.
At a basket level, that marks an additional €4.23 on top of the cost of the average shopping trip of €28.75, Kantar said.
Grocery sales in November increased by 4.5% due to an 11.5% increase in average prices and shoppers returning to store more often.
Kantar said that online sales also increased by 3.5% in the last month with shoppers spending an additional €1.7m on an annual basis.
A rise in the number of new shoppers continued to drive performance with nearly 13% of Irish households buying their groceries online during the month.
A combination of rising inflation and festive spending means that December is set to be a record-breaking month with grocery sales hitting €1.25 billion for the first time,.
Friday 23 December is set to be the busiest day for pre-Christmas shopping.
Kantar also noted that the cost of a traditional Christmas dinner for four, including wine, has hit €41.58, up 7.9% on last year.
But despite inflationary and other pressures, shoppers are still stocking up on festive treats this year.
Emer Healy, Senior Retail Analyst, said that in the latest 12 week period, consumers spent an additional €1.2m on gifting and chocolate boxes, €3.5m more on savoury snacking and €617,000 on mince pies.
Meanwhile, sales of own label grew by 9.6% in the latest 12 weeks, as shoppers spent an additional €118m year-on-year.
Value own label ranges saw the strongest growth, up 29% year-on-year with shoppers spending an additional €14.4m.
Sales of premium own label and brands also grew, up 5.1% and 1.6% respectively, as shoppers look to treat themselves during the festive season, with an additional €5.6m spent on branded chocolate and €262,000 on premium own label crisps.
The frequency of shopping trips also hit a new high during this period, with households making more than 59 trips in the 12 weeks to 27 November. This is the highest frequency recorded by Kantar since June 2021 and largely due to the slow and steady return to pre-Covid behaviour.
Today's figures show that Dunnes Stores has the highest share amongst all the retailers at 23.3%, with growth of 7.4% year-on-year.
Tesco holds 22.2% of the market with growth of 7.3% on an annual basis. It also has the strongest frequency growth amongst all retailers of 10.4% year-on-year.
SuperValu holds 20.9% share and continues to hold the highest frequency amongst all retailers at 21.1 trips, which is up 5.8%.
Lidl holds a 12.8% share with growth of 7.3% year-on-year. New shoppers in store and existing shoppers returning to store more often contributed a combined additional €26.2m to overall performance.
Meanwhile, Aldi holds 12.4% of the market growing of 4% year-on-year, with existing shoppers returning to store more often contributing an additional €18.3m to overall performance.
