The Irish grocery market is continuing to grow, following on from a strong performance at Christmas.

The latest share figures for the 12 weeks ending February 1st show sales are up by 1.2%.

The numbers from Kantar Worldpanel means that the market is now in its 11th consecutive period of growth.

But it says that the retail landscape remains challenging, as retailers "compete fiercely" to hold on to shoppers.

Tesco has maintained its market-leading position with 25.2% market share - although its sales have fallen by 2.1% compared to this time last year.

SuperValu is continuing to grow and now has 24.9% market share, only 0.3 percentage points behind Tesco.

Dunnes was the best performing supermarket with sales growth of 1.7%, the strongest performance for the retailer since July 2014. The retailer also attracted an extra 17,000 shoppers through its doors this period.

While Tesco's market share fell, it still remains the largest player | Source: Kantar Worldpanel

Elsewhere in the market, Lidl and Aldi have continued their strong performance with double digit sales growth of 12.5% and 11.5% respectively.

Kantar says both retailers have continued to increase footfall, with over 60% of Irish households shopping in each retailer in the past 12 weeks.

Georgieann Harrington, consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: "There are clear signs that the grocery market is improving along with the overall economy."

"Shoppers are taking advantage of lower grocery prices by visiting the supermarkets more often and putting more in their baskets when they go," she added.

On average, consumers increased their grocery spending by €5 in the latest period.

"The battle for shoppers will continue well into 2015 and this will create more value for Irish households as retailers go head to head," Ms Harrington added.