The proliferation of sporting events in July led to a £7.3m increase in the money spent on beer and snacks in Northern Ireland supermarkets, a report said.
Football’s European championships, the All-Ireland football and hurling, the Irish rugby tour of South Africa, the Championships at Wimbledon and other events all contributed to increasing alcohol and snack spending across NI.
However, the relatively cold weather has hurt sales of some summertime staples, with a 13.8% fall in sun preparation spending. There was also an 8.8% rise in sales of cold treatments and an extra £351,000 spent on soup compared to sales last year.
The figures come from market research company Kantar’s survey of the NI Grocery Market for the year up to July 2024.
Overall supermarket spending is up 6.4% on last year, with £4.25bn already spent in NI supermarkets. This is an increase of over £250m from last year’s numbers.
Take-home grocery sales saw a modest 0.4% growth compared to the prior period.
Tesco is still the most popular supermarket here, doing an additional £85.3m compared to the previous year on a 35.4% market share. There are around 50 Tesco stores in Northern Ireland.
Lidl saw big growth in its slice of the supermarket pie here, up 7% to a 9.2% share of the market.
The budget retailer has been growing its number of locations in NI over recent years. It has begun construction on a new south Belfast store that will bring its total number here to 43. The company aims to operate 50 stores in Northern Ireland by 2030.
Planning permission was also granted back in June for a new Lidl store on a vacant site in Cookstown, off Burn Road and Orritor Road in the town.
The company employs almost 1,300 staff, and recorded a pre-tax profit of £11m in its latest results.
Sainsbury’s is the second most popular supermarket, with a 16.9% share across its 14 stores, followed by Asda in third with 16.2% across its 18 stores in Northern Ireland.
Emer Healy, business development director at Kantar, described how inflation is continuing to hit people’s wallets: “Grocery inflation now stands at 7.5% for July, the 10th consecutive month of decline and now sitting at a level last seen in November 2022.
“This means the average annual grocery bill is set to rise by £420 from £5,600 to £6,020 if consumers don’t change their shopping habits.
“Although inflation levels are falling, they are still high and consumers in Northern Ireland are still facing significant pressures on their household budgets, making the landscape as competitive as ever.
“Own label remains popular as shoppers tighten their purse strings, growing ahead of the total market at 6.8% year-on-year, with shoppers spending an additional £119m on these ranges compared to last year.
“Also, over 22% of sales were made through a promotional offer, a level not seen since October 2020.”