Grocery sales increased last month, boosted by back-to-school costs.
The latest figures from Kantar show that sales jumped 3.6% in September.
People shopped more frequently during the month, with a 1.5% rise in shopping trips.
Meanwhile, grocery inflation dropped slightly to 2.67% in the 12 weeks to the end of the month.
This was down 0.09% from the previous period.
Brand sales grew by 8% compared to last year, outperforming own-label products, and increasing their value share of total spending to 48.2%.
With school lunches back in focus, Irish households spent an additional €2.6 million on fresh vegetables and €1.9 million on fresh fruit.
They stocked up on pantry staples, spending an additional €1.4 million on bakery breads, nearly €1 million more on frozen goods, and €1.5 million more on soft drink carbonates.
Some shoppers got an early start preparing for the Halloween season, which was reflected in a significant €3 million increase in spending on confectionery.
Today's figures show that online sales increased 9.6% compared to the same period last year, with shoppers spending €17 million online.
According to Kantar, retailers are driving this growth by offering attractive online incentives including money off vouchers and free delivery in some cases, which have encouraged shoppers to return more frequently.
The latest 12-week data shows that this increase in platform visits was the main contributor to the growth, rising by 12.3%.
Looking at the main retailers, Dunnes holds a 24% market share and saw value growth of 9.5% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Tesco holds 23.4% of the market, with value up 10%, while SuperValu has 19.6% of the market and saw growth of 1.7%.
Lidl has a 13.7% share of total spend and saw growth of 8% year-on-year, while Aldi holds an 11.7% market share, with growth of 0.6% year-on-year.
