SHOPPERS in Northern Ireland have reached for all the Halloween treats flooding the shelves in store with a near-£8 million spending splurge.
A additional £1.9m has been spent on confectionary and £4.4m on take-home savouries, according to figures from analysts Kantar.
And the unexpected warmer weather meant consumers wanted to spend more time outdoors than inside cooking, with an additional £1.4m being spent on chilled ready meals.
The Northern Irish grocery market saw sales grow by 11 per cent in the year to October 1, with shoppers shelling out an additional £403.3m.
Food and drink prices continued to climb says Kantar, with average prices up 10.8 per cent compared to last year.
And as shoppers look for ways to manage costs, many are turning to cheaper alternatives such as retailer own label lines, where sales were up £256m compared to last year. Branded products sales, by contrast rose by just £149m.
Tesco maintains its position at the top of the table as the’s largest grocer with a 35 per cent share of the market, growing 11.3 per cent year-on-year. It welcomed an influx of new shoppers in store alongside more frequent trips which contributed an additional £119.5m to its overall performance.
Lidl holds 9.2 per cent market share in Northern Ireland, seeing the strongest growth among all retailers, up 26.3 per cent year-on-year, alongside the largest influx of new shoppers, up 1.7 percentage points. More frequent trips to its stores contributed an additional £40.1m to Lidl.
Sainsbury’s has a 16.7 per cent market share, growing 11.2 per cent year-on-year and saw new shoppers and more frequent trips which contributed an additional £48.8m to their overall performance.
And Asda's slice of the pie stands at 15.9 per cent, growing 10 per cent year-on-year and seeing more frequent trips, which added an extra £77.1m to its baskets.
