Scantrack scanning service uses EPOS data from retailers to quantify total store sales every week by SKU across the major food and drink retailers in Northern Ireland, including Tesco, Sainsbury, SuperValu, Centra, Eurospar, Spar and Vivo.

Northern Ireland’s FMCG market rose 3.5% to £3.7 billion over the last year according to Nielsen, with the supermarket multiples accounting for 73% of sales and the convenience retailers 27%.

Matt Clark, Nielsen’s commercial director in Ireland, said: "Scantrack has effectively been the currency for grocery sales in both GB and the Republic of Ireland for years but now it will help Northern Ireland’s retailers and manufacturers to see how they’re performing, so they can improve and grow their business.”