New figures show that grocery price inflation rose to 6.3% in the 12 weeks to September 7, up from 5.4% in the previous 12 week period.
The figures from Worldpanel by Numerator also reveal that back to school spending helped drive take-home grocery sales up by 6.1% in the four weeks to September 7.
Store visits increased by 0.7%, although shoppers picked up fewer packs per trip. Overall, shoppers spent an additional €68.8 on groceries compared with the same time last year, today's figures show.
Worldpanel by Numerator said that spending on typical lunchbox staples increase across many households with children with an additional €5.3m spent on sweet bakery items, fresh fruit, breakfast cereals and porridge, savoury snacks and yoghurt.
It also noted that convenience was a priority, with an extra €1.6m spent on fresh and frozen ready meals and cooking sauces compared with last year.
Shoppers took advantage of promotions too, spending €758m on promotional lines during the latest 12-week period, an increase of 8.2% on the previous year.
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Worldpanel by Numerator noted that promotional spending now makes up 21.5% of all grocery sales. Key categories driving this growth included laundry, water, squash and smoothies, all of which performed ahead of the total market for promotional lines.
Today's figures also showed that online continued to gain ground, with sales rising 6.3% year on year to take 5.8% value share of the market.
Shoppers spent an additional €12m online during the period, helped by an influx of new customers who contributed €7.7m to overall performance.
Nearly 18% of Irish households bought their groceries online in the 12 week period under review, Worldpanel by Numerator noted.
Supermarket's market share
It also said that Dunnes held a 23.9% market share of the supermarket section in the latest 12-week period, with slowing sales growth of 6.1% year-on-year.
Tesco held a 23.7% of the market, with value growth of 6.4% year-on-year. Shoppers increased their trips to stores by 1.3% and along with new shoppers contributed an additional €23.7m to the grocer's overall performance.
SuperValu held 19.5% of the market with growth of 4.9%. Consumers made the most shopping trips to the supermarket chain, averaging 24.7 trips over the latest 12 weeks, up 9.6% year-on-year. The increase in shopping trips contributed an additional €61.6m to its performance.
Meanwhile, Lidl held a 14.2% of the market with growth of 9.5%, the fastest growth among all retailers. Lidl also saw shoppers pick up more volume in store, up 2.5%, contributing an additional €11.5m to overall performance.
And Aldi held an 11.6% market share, up 4.7%. Increased store trips and new shoppers drove an additional €16.1m in sales.
