Bumper Christmas spend but the sprouts missed out

IRELAND’S supermarkets had a record-breaking Christmas with bumper sales, yet two Yuletide favourites – Brussels sprouts and mince pies – both slumped.

A record-breaking €1.4billion was spent in supermarkets in December, figures from retail analysts Kantar show.

Families spent an average of €767 on groceries last month – an all-time high – and an increase of nearly €42 on 2022.

Business was so good that on December 22, the Friday before Christmas, more than one in three people in the country were in a supermarket. However, Brussels sprouts and mince pies were less popular this year. Sprouts were down 2.4% and mince pies surprisingly dropped by a hefty 9.3%.

Sales of potatoes were up 3.1%, carrots increased 1.9% and broccoli rose 7.5%, while turkey sales were through the roof with an increase of almost 20%.

Kantar director Emer Healy explained: ‘As we expected, this Christmas was a mammoth month. Friday, December 22 turned out to be the most popular shopping day over Christmas week. Irish shoppers spent €92million in stores, with just over two million trips made on December 22 alone – meaning more than 36% of Irish households were in a store that day.

‘However, with Christmas Day on a Monday, shoppers had a full week to prepare, which led to more staggered shopping trips and making Saturday, December 23 the second busiest trading day, with €87million running through the tills.’

Shoppers made nearly 42million trips to the shops over the four weeks to Christmas Eve – 3.4million more than last year and the largest number ever recorded over the festive period. However, the record spend was partly caused by high inflation in supermarkets. Although grocery inflation is falling, it is still exceptionally high and Irish consumers face serious pressures on their household budgets. Grocery inflation stood at 7.1% for the 12 weeks to Christmas Eve – a fall of more than half from the 15.5% rate in January 2023.