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Keeping up with consumers: How brands are adapting their plant-based products

Health may be the primary driver for consumers' adoption of plant-based products but innovation is critical for brands to maintain sustained growth in the market, according to an analyst at Euromonitor International.

At Fi Europe, Javier Muñoz, senior analyst at Euromonitor International, drew on the company’s global market research to explore the current and future state of the plant-based industry.

Plant-based products may have seen significant growth over the years, but major barriers such as taste and nutrition still stand in the way of widespread adoption.

Brands are working to address these challenges and reassure worried consumers who believe plant-based products do not nutritionally stack up to animal-based foods. In response to these concerns, brands are, for example, experimenting with different protein sources and adding nutrients like omega-3 and vitamin B12 to boost the nutrient profile of their offerings.

Pandemic proves pivotal for the growth of the plant-based industry

Meat and seafood substitutes and plant-based dairy alternatives have experienced rapid growth over the past couple of years. Partially responsible for this growth, Muñoz noted, was the Covid-19 pandemic, which boosted interest. “The pandemic made us stay at home longer, spend more time cooking, and we became curious about food,” he explained.

To demonstrate this, Muñoz explored Euromonitor data between 2021 and 2023, showing consistent growth in plant-based claims across four packaged food categories: cooking ingredients and meals; dairy products and alternatives; snacks; and staple foods.

Plant-based trends: Europe leads in meat alternatives, Asia in alt-dairy

Discussing the regional differences in consumer adoption of plant-based foods, Muñoz explained that Western Europe has the highest retail value for meat and seafood substitutes, followed by North America. Regions with growth potential include the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

When it comes to plant-based dairy, Western Europe ranks second, followed closely by North America, with Asia-Pacific leading the way in retail value. Muñoz explained: “Of course, the Asia Pacific region, for cultural reasons, has the biggest portion of the market when it comes to plant-based dairy.”

The cultural reasons Muñoz is referring to is that plant-based dairy alternatives, such as soy milk have long been included in the culinary traditions of countries like China, Japan, and India, meaning, in comparison to other parts of the world, they have been widely accepted as part of the diet.

In addition, lactose intolerance impacts a large portion of Asian and Pacific populations, for example, between 70 – 100% of people of East Asian descent are impacted by lactose intolerance, also known as lactase nonpersistence.

Health concerns: The top reason for people to eat plant-based

Across both plant-based dairy and meat and seafood substitutes, Euromonitor’s survey data shows health emerging as a driving factor for consumption. “Health and health concerns have been driving a lot of the trends in the packaged food industries lately,” Muñoz explained. Around one-third of respondents cited they consume plant-based products “to feel healthier”.

Around 20% of respondents consume plant-based dairy for better digestion, which Muñoz said has been a much discussed topic in the packaged food industry recently, reflecting the increased interest from consumers in gut health and supported by trends in food products such as pre and probiotics. Other reasons cited include tasty plant-based options, reduction of sugar intake, and avoidance of long-term health risks.

Delving into the avoidance of long-term health risks, Muñoz pointed to the fact that consumer behaviour has increasingly been influenced by greater access to information. He said: “Consumers are making more informed decisions when it comes to purchasing [plant-based] products. [...] Companies are also offering more transparency when it comes to these products, just trying to follow up with consumers' interest.”

Another factor, sustainability, is not a primary driver and is only an important consideration for a minority of consumers. “Even though a lot of people think [about sustainability] and companies consider it in other areas of their products, sustainability is still not one of the main reasons,” Muñoz added.

For example, only around 20% of consumers purchasing meat and seafood alternatives said they did so to reduce their environmental impact as one of the top five reasons, and sustainability was not a top five factor for plant-based dairy purchases.

Brands are adapting to meet consumers' expectations

Appealing to the increasingly informed and health-conscious consumer requires brands to adapt to emerging trends while differentiating their products and positioning them with new attributes, appealing formats, and nutritional claims.

One such nutritional claim important for consumers and brands alike is protein. Muñoz explained when it comes to messaging, brands are concerned with highlighting the protein content. Some brands are enriching more of their products with protein, or brands whose products already contain a high protein content are deliberately displaying the protein content on the packaging of the product.

Essential nutrients are another important claim. One downside to many plant-based meat and seafood substitutes is that they do not contain the same nutrients naturally found in animal-based options. To ease consumer concerns about plant-based diets and a perceived lack of essential nutrients, brands are enriching their products with nutrients like omega 3, vitamin B12, and iron, and highlighting this on the packaging. “For fish substitutes, they [brands] highlight the amount of omega 3 [their products] have, because they know it's important and interesting for consumers,” Muñoz said.

Other claims important to consumers are around sustainability and organic offerings. Muñoz explained that these claims often go hand in hand, as they resonate with the environmentally conscious consumer. Muñoz added: “They [brands] don’t want to offer you something in sustainable packing if it's not organic.”