Irish shoppers spent more money on groceries last month than ever before.

The latest Kantar figures show that Irish people have spent €2.8bn in supermarkets and grocery shops over the past 12 weeks.

Meanwhile, the average household spent an extra €122 on shopping in March – 27% more than the same month last year.

During that time, sales of hand soap rose by 300% with the sale of household cleaners up by 170%.

COVID-19

Kantar managing direct David Berry said: “Over the past month we have faced profound changes to our daily lives as a result of the need for social distancing – impacting the way we work, shop and socialise.”

“Retailers and their staff have risen to an enormous challenge since restrictions on movement were announced on March 12th.

“They have been on the frontline as households across Ireland prepared to spend more time at home, with more mouths to feed.”

Online supermarket

There has also been a boom in online shopping, with one-in-ten households placing an online supermarket order – 25,000 more than the previous peak hit last Christmas.

“Looking at our food choices, items with a longer shelf life saw the biggest uplift, as sales of frozen and ambient foods, meaning those that can be stored at room temperature, increased by 32%,” said Mr Berry.

“By comparison, demand for fresh food has been more modest – growing by 16% over the last four weeks.

“While we’d expect sales to remain strong in the coming weeks and months, there will likely be a rebalancing of sales of fresh and non-perishable items as shoppers with full freezers and cupboards replenish fresh supplies.”

The growth was shared across all the country’s major supermarkets and retailers – with Dunnes, SuperValu and Tesco all recording 10% growth.

Lidl saw the biggest growth at 14.7% with sales at Aldi growing by 11.8%.