A universal love of roast dinners drove beef sales up by 19% in supermarkets in the six weeks running up to the end of November this year.

The latest consumer trends from Kantar indicate that roast dinners pushed up beef sales, while an extra €12.2m was also spent on vegetables.

Shoppers definitely seemed to be getting in the festive spirit, with a 33% boost in alcohol sales and an additional €82,000 spent on mince pies, while the sale of Christmas biscuits soared by €793,000 in November.

This has led to a rise in sales for well-loved Irish brands like Avonmore and Keoghs

“One of the positives of national and regional restrictions this year has been learning to love the world on our doorstep and to shop local. This has led to a rise in sales for well-loved Irish brands such as Avonmore and Keogh's, both of which put in standout performances this month, as well as Brennan’s and Denny,” according to Emer Healy, retail analyst at Kantar said.

“The retailers’ investment in increasing their online capacity since the start of the pandemic has paid off and people are now doing bigger shops more often. As a result, customers spent an average of €103 more when shopping for groceries online than they did last year,” she added.

Lockodwn boost

Overall, an extra €164m was spent by Irish shoppers compared to the same period last year, highlighting the readjustment to more people eating at home during the lockdown and COVID-19.

Dunnes Stores retained the biggest share of the market for the six-week period, with 22.1%. Tesco and SuperValu maintained their 17% and 18.5% shares respectively.