Irish grocery shoppers sought to row back on the Christmas excess in January, with sales of plant-based milks up 40pc year-on-year in the month.

Dunnes Stores retained its place as the top supermarket by market share, despite shoppers’ tighter purse strings.

Dunnes had 23.1pc of the market in the 12 weeks to January 27, with Tesco second on 22.1pc and Super Valu on 21.6pc, according to the latest figures from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel.

“While families were willing to splurge in the run up to Christmas, January has seen them cut back – the average household spent €120 less on groceries during the four weeks to 27 January than in December,” said Kantar consumer insight director Douglas Faughnan, 

“Shoppers were less likely to reach for more expensive branded and premium products, with sales falling 28pc and 31pc compared with December 2018,” he added.

Mr Faughnan said the value of fruit and vegetable sales was up €7m year-on-year in the month. The popularity of ‘Veganuary’ – where people go vegan for the month – saw sales of vegetable side dishes, vegetable sausages and vegetable burgers collectively rise 35pc. That also fuelled the rise in plant-based milk sales.

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