And despite people make 5.5% fewer trips to stores, they bought more on each visit, thus adding £86.7 million to overall market growth.

Grocery inflation now stands at 4.82%, up from 4.22% last month.

As December got underway, shoppers got into the festive mood, spending an extra £16 million on champagne, wine, biscuits and chocolate confectionery in the latest 12 weeks.

“Branded goods continue to perform well, with spending up £53.8 million, which is a 2.2% year-on-year increase, lifting their value share to 55.2%” said Emer Healy, Business Development Director at Worldpanel by Numerator.

“Own-label ranges also grew, up 1.4% as shoppers spent an extra £25.5 million, taking their value share to 42.9%.

“To make their budgets go further, consumers are mixing own-label choices with promotions,” added Emer. “Discounted items now account for 24.4% of value sales, a new record for Northern Ireland, with more than £1 billion spent on promotions overall.”

Meanwhile, Tesco remains Northern Ireland’s largest grocer, increasing its market share to 38.1%, its highest share on record. Its growth came from both new shoppers and bigger baskets, adding £113 million. Sainsbury’s follows with a 17% share, up 3.7% year-on-year, helped by new shopper recruitment worth £38.1 million.

Asda holds a 15% value share, while Lidl increased its share to 9.4%, up 5.4% after attracting new shoppers who contributed £13.1 million in additional spend.

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