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Who won the trolley wars in the run-up to Christmas? You did

Competitive pricing has led to a reduction in price inflation.

SHOPPERS ARE THE big winners in the trolley wars this festive period, with Christmas deals in supermarkets resulting in a fall in price inflation.

The latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel revealed a fall in inflation from 2.6% in the previous 12-week period, to 1.9%.

David Berry, commercial director at Kantar Worldpanel, said:

“In a bid to emerge victorious over the all-important Christmas period, competitive pricing among the retailers has led to inflation dropping to just 1.9%.”

Shoppers are reaping the benefits, with staple items such as vegetables, eggs and bread costing less this year compared with last – meaning savings on Christmas dinner purchases.

Lidl and Aldi have continued their seemingly unstoppable perfomrance this year, posting growth of 16.6% and 13.1% respectively.

This is predicted to continue through the festive period.

Tesco is still dominant, with a 25.9% total market share, but suffered a 3% fall in sales.

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“The challenge now facing the retailer is encouraging shoppers to buy more at the tills,” Berry said, and noted that Supervalu increased their sales slightly in the same period.

However, a growth streak for Dunnes has ended. It returned to growth in May, but posted a decline in this set of data.

Also today, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton published draft regulations aimed at ‘regulating certain practices in the grocery goods sector’.

“There is potentially a real inequality between [suppliers and retailers] which can be abused in a manner that is not in the interests of jobs, consumers or sustainable safe food,” Bruton said.

“New legal provisions will require that in future, contracts must be in writing, certain terms must be included, records must be retained for inspection and a compliance statement must be made.”

Read: Competition is the hottest it has ever been for Ireland’s top supermarket slot >

More: Three-quarters of Dunnes Stores workers are on part-time flexible contracts >

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