The value of Ireland’s grocery market is on track to break the €13bn mark following record sales of food and drinks in Irish supermarkets this year.

Since the Government introduced lockdown restrictions in March this year, Irish grocery sales have been running 10% to 30% ahead of normal levels, according to data by research firm Kantar.

While the food service industry has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Irish supermarkets have certainly been one of the few winners in 2020 judging by these bumper sales figures.

Back in March, Irish grocery sales spiked almost 30% year on year to hit a record €1.1bn for the month.

This double-digit growth has continued throughout the remaining months of 2020 as consumers were forced to eat and work from home much more due to COVID-19.

Sales growth

Even in the summer, when COVID-19 health restrictions were at their least stringent, Ireland’s grocery market was still experiencing double-digit sales growth above 10%.

And since the latest Government restrictions were introduced in October and November, the growth in grocery sales has rebounded once again to levels close to 20%.

In October and November just past, Irish grocery sales were over €1bn in each month.

Based on the current trends, grocery sales for the busy Christmas period are on track to hit a record €1.2bn.

This would see Irish grocery sales break the €13bn mark for all of 2020, which would be a near 20% increase on 2019 grocery sales.

In simple terms, that equates to an extra €1.85bn in grocery sales this year versus 2019.