This increase made it the biggest sales month of the year so far, according to the latest data from Kantar.

The take-home sales coincided with a jump in the number of shopping trips made by households, hitting a four-year high at 480 million. While Halloween played a part in galvanising sales, there are signs that consumers are looking ahead and starting their Christmas shopping early.

Grocery price inflation was up slightly on September’s figure, but still within typical levels, with the rate now below 3.0% every month since early summer. As Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insights at Kantar explained, October 2024 was the busiest month for the supermarkets since March 2020.

“Trip numbers have been going up gradually for some time, but this steady march hasn’t reached pre-covid levels of shopping frequency just yet. The average for each household is slightly over four trips per week,” said Fraser McKevitt.

“What’s interesting this month is the number of households who are already stocking up the cupboards for the big day in December. Some people think Christmas ads hit our screens too soon, but it’s clearly important for retailers to set out their stalls early.”

According to Kantar’s figures, 648,000 shoppers have already bought a Christmas cake, while 14.4% of households picked up mince pies in October.

“With Black Friday on the horizon, the grocers will be hoping to capture a slice of the action there too,” added Fraser McKevitt.

“In the week up to 26^th November last year, online and offline sales for typical Black Friday categories across all high street retailers were £1.6 billion higher than during an average week in 2023.”

Promotional activity by the grocers is helping to keep prices down and supporting sales of branded goods in particular.

“Spending on deals has been going up consistently for the past 18 months and it now makes up 28.6% of all sales,” said Fraser.

“Offers are helping to lift branded sales especially. The growth gap between brands and own-label is the biggest it’s been since February 2021, sitting at 4.9% and 2.7% apiece.

“We’ll be keeping a close eye on those numbers to see whether the gap continues to widen in the run up to Christmas.”

In the supermarket shares, Lidl was the fastest growing retailer with a bricks and mortar presence for the 15^th period in a row, continuing this run into a second year.

It secured 326,000 additional shoppers this period, more than any other retailer, and saw particularly strong fresh produce sales growth at 22%.

Meanwhile, the two largest supermarkets also outperformed the wider market. With sales up across all its store formats and online, Tesco’s sales rose by 4.6%, taking it to 27.9% of the market, while spending through the tills at Sainsbury’s climbed 4.4%, making its overall share 15.5%. Sainsbury’s saw a rise in both shopper numbers and trips this period.

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Queues of cars lined Grand Parade in east Belfast as motorists waited to pick up the 20p a litre discount, while one Carrickfergus resident said the queue there was stretching back as  far as the centre of town.

Northern Ireland fuel company Go slashed prices for the popular pre-Christmas discount day , offering deals on unleaded petrol and diesel which were sold at £1.19 per litre.

In an online post on their Facebook page, the firm said the drop in fuel prices is 20p discount, but added that there were soem restrictions on loading up with fuel, including a maximum fill.

“Black Friday DEAL…No Catch..Just HUGE savings!” Go said in their Facebook post.

“Maximum fill £100. Must be into vehicle tanks ONLY. No container/ storage tank fills allowed.

“There is a maximum fill of £100 and must be into vehicle tanks only with no container/ storage tank fills allowed. It’s being offered while stocks last. 

The deal is available at A1 Banbridge, Armagh Ballynahinch, Cameron Stewarts, Carrickfergus, Cookstown, Crewcatt, Crumlin, Dunman, Grand Parade, Great Victoria Street, Lissan, Newell Stores, Portadown, Twin Spires and Yorkgate.”

A number of customers questioned why the price at some of the pumps remained at its usual value and were advised by Go to keep their receipts so that they could investigate.

There were also questions as to why the deal wasn’t available at stations in the north west, but a Go spokesperson said: “We have a company owned Go site in Killea, Co. Donegal where all year round the price is approximately 10- 15 pence per litre sterling cheaper.”

GO’s Black Friday deal comes as fuel prices continue to rise across the UK.

Record highs set in April 2012 were exceeded last month and prices have continued to increase since then.

The average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts on Monday was 146.89p, according to Government statistics, while a litre of diesel was 150.73p.

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The spending spree that traditionally marks Black Friday is a critical sales day for many retailers. However recent figures from Retail Economics and Retail Week suggest only 19 per cent of shoppers plan on taking advantage of promotions this year.

While 46 per cent of retailers reported they are expecting higher demand this Friday, a meagre 11 per cent of consumers said they intend on spending more on goods this year, research from Retail Economics suggests. Just under a quarter of shoppers reported a sense of disillusionment with Black Friday promotions, while 42 per cent felt deals were worsening year-on-year.

While younger consumers expressed the highest interest in exploiting the annual promos, levels of interest were down markedly on the previous year. Of the consumers who said they intended to shop on Black Friday, 62 per cent expected to spend less and 27 per cent said they would spend the same amount.

Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, said: “Acceleration on last year’s trends is expected with a third of consumers saying that they would do more of their Black Friday shopping online. This shift in spending is anticipated by retailers, three quarters of who thought online would be more popular this year.”

However, Mr Lim also identified the potential benefits of a customer base that are gravitating away from singular shopping sprees, towards more balanced expenditure.

“Fading demand for Black Friday is not necessarily a bad thing for retailers who would rather see incremental spend spread across the whole of the Christmas season than discounted sales pulled forward at the expense of future demand.

“It also eases pressure on capacity constraints for retailers who have previously struggled with crowded stores, failing websites and poor customer experiences”, he added.

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