The latest Irish grocery data from Kantar shows that shoppers made more shopping trips in the four weeks to January 26, with an average of 23 trips to stores.
But shoppers picked up less volume per trip, with volumes down 1.6% on the same time last year.
Today's figures from Kantar also reveal that that take-home value sales over the four weeks to 26 January increased by 6.5% compared to the same period last year.
This was despite grocery price inflation increasing 3.4%, slightly lower than last month.
Emer Healy, Business Development Director at Kantar, said that supermarkets were rolling out discounts in the New Year, as a way of easing the pressure on household budgets - and Irish consumers were more than happy to take advantage of them.
She noted that spending on promotion rose by 8.4% with shoppers spending an additional €72m on last year - the highest level of sales on promotion seen since February 2021.
Alongside promotions Irish shoppers also turned to own label products to help keep costs down in January.
Kantar said that sales of own label products jumped 6.9% compared to last year with an additional €103.9m being spent on these ranges. 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.
Today's figures show that consumers focused as much on health and wellness as on their wallets with an additional €8.9m 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. Sales of low and no-alcohol soared by over 47% with shoppers spending an additional €620,000 during the month versus last year," Emer Healy said.
Meanwhile, online sales rose by 14.5% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional €27.4m through this channel.
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, Kantar said.
Kantar also noted a Storm Éowyn effect on the supermarket figures with consumers stocking up on necessities, leading to Tesco (+8.9%), Dunnes (+8.1%), and SuperValu (+8.5%) outperforming the total market during January (+6.5%).
It said this impact will be evident in grocers' performance within its 12-week data up to January 2025.
Supermarkets' market share
Kantar said that over the latest 12 weeks, Dunnes holds a new record 25% market share, with a sales growth of 7% year-on-year. Shoppers increased the number of trips while picking up more packs per trip, which contributed a combined €39.2m to their overall performance.
Tesco holds 24.1% of the market, with value growth of 6.5% year-on-year. Shoppers increased their trips to store alongside welcoming new shoppers, which contributed a combined €21m to overall performance.
SuperValu holds 20.3% of the market with growth of 4.2%. Consumers made the most shopping trips to this grocer, averaging 23.8 trips over the latest 12 weeks. This increase in the number of shopping trips contributed an additional €40m to its performance.
Meanwhile, Lidl holds a 12.4% share of total spending up 4.7%. Increased trips to store and new shopper arrivals drove an additional €8.7m in sales.
And Aldi holds 10.7% market share up 4.5% on last year with an increase in trips contributing an additional €13.3m to its performance.
