Grocery prices rising more than 6% as key spending season begins

Shoppers are already getting into the Christmas spirit, spending an additional €8m on boxed chocolates

Overall grocery sales rose 5.5% last month.

Food prices in Ireland are rising more than twice the general inflation rate, with supermarket spending by Irish households jumping by €64m over the past 12 weeks.

Food items at the supermarket till now cost 6.06% more than they did for the same period last year. This is a slight moderation on the 6.6% figure for the previous 12-week period, but it remains above the general inflation rate of 2.9% as measured by the CSO.

Grocery spending data from Worldpanel by Numerator, based on over 30,000 identical products compared year-on-year, shows that overall grocery sales rose by 5.5% in October.

Despite the price increases, the data shows shoppers are falling into repeat patterns with a surge in spending on items like boxed chocolates in the run-up to Christmas. 

Retailers eager to secure market share are keen to show they are delivering value with nearly a quarter (22%) of all grocery sales on promotion, up nearly 5.9% versus this time last year. 

"Promotional activity typically intensifies in the lead-up to Christmas, so this is likely to persist well into December," Emer Healy, Business Development Director at Worldpanel by Numerator, said. 

"Shoppers are already getting into the spirit, spending an additional €8m on boxed chocolates compared with last month."

Food categories which have seen purchase increases include frozen fruit, low alcoholic drinks, hot beverages, confectionery sweets, chocolate, sweet spreads and savoury snacks.

As households seek to save on spending, supermarket own-labels saw strong growth over the last 12 weeks, up 6.3%, with shoppers spending an additional €99m on these ranges versus last year. Premium own-label ranges continue to see strong growth, up 15.3%, with shoppers spending an additional €18.5m on these ranges compared to last year.

However, brands currently hold 48.2% value share of the total market, the highest share since February, showing how shoppers are more likely to treat themselves in the lead-up to Christmas. 

Online supermarket spending continued to grow, at a significantly faster rate compared to last month, up 6.4% year-on-year. It now accounts for 5.6% of grocery spending.

Analysing supermarket market share, Woldpanel said Dunnes remains top with 24.6% of the market, followed by Tesco with 23.8%, SuperValu on 19.4%, Lidl on 14% and Aldi with 11.2%.