UK grocery sales hit their highest levels in October, according to data out on Tuesday from market research firm Kantar, as the number of shopping trips hit a four-year high.

Take-home sales at grocers totalled £11.6bn in the four weeks to 3 November, up 2.0% over the same period last year, Kantar reported.

The number of shopping trips made by households rose to 480m, their highest level since March 2020 before the first national Covid lockdown.

Kantar said that Halloween played a part in the sales growth, with 3.2m households buying at least one pumpkin and confectionary spending accounting for nearly 5% of total sales at £525m, with sales of chocolates and sweets rising 13% and 7%, respectively.

Meanwhile, there were signs that consumers were starting their Christmas shopping early, with 14.4% of all households buying mince pies and 648,000 shoppers picking up a Christmas cake during the month.

“What’s interesting this month is the number of households who are already stocking up the cupboards for the big day in December. Some people think Christmas ads hit our screens too soon but it’s clearly important for retailers to set out their stalls early,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.

Grocery prices were up 2.3% year-on-year during the period, picking up slightly from September but within the typical range, Kantar said, with inflation staying below 3.0% every month since the early summer.

“Spending on deals has been going up consistently for the past 18 months and it now makes up 28.6% of all sales. Offers are helping to lift branded sales especially,” McKevitt said.

In terms of grocery brands, Ocado saw the strongest year-on-year growth in sales during the period at 9.5%, followed by Lidl at 7.4% and Tesco at 4.6%. Meanwhile, sales at Asda slumped 5.5% and fell 2.1% at the Co-op.