Demand for plant-based products soared in January

In recent years, more and more grocery chains around the world have been expanding their plant-based product ranges and encouraging consumers to try them through various campaigns. January is a particularly important time for this, as it is the Veganuary challenge, which many retail chains are joining – internationally. Many consumers are trying new plant-based foods as a result of the campaigns and promotions, and retailers in many countries are seeing a significant increase in sales during this period.

A recent report from Finnish retail chain S Group illustrates this global trend, with a successful January campaign seeing a significant increase in sales of plant-based alternatives to dairy and other alternative foods, Vegconomist reported.

This year, the company has expanded its cooperation with the Vegaanihaaste (the name of the Finnish January Vegan Challenge) initiative, which now extends to all its grocery stores – S-market, Prisma, Sale and Alepa. The challenge attracted a record number of participants.

As a result, sales of plant-based milk alternatives and cheese substitutes increased by more than 10 percent in January compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, sales of the Härkis brand of starter protein and the Oddlygood brand of plant-based milk and cheese alternatives also increased by more than 12%.

Demand for fresh and frozen vegetables and vegetable-based cooking products also increased compared to January last year. This was also supported by the “Alle euron hevi” (Less than one euro) campaign, which highlighted products in kilograms, in bunches or pieces, that were cheaper than one euro.

Aim to sell 65% plant-based foods

The data shows that S Group is moving closer to its target of 65% of the food it sells being plant-based by the end of 2030. The company is a founding member of the Plant Based Food Finland business alliance, which was established at the end of 2023 to increase the share of plant-based food in the Finnish food system.

“The cooperation and price campaigns have clearly appealed to our customers, regardless of which chain they went to, and in January we successfully increased demand for plant-based products compared to the previous year. We want to lower the threshold for trying plant-based products and help them become part of everyday life. It was pleasing to see shoppers buying a wider variety of foods in January and more people starting to try plant-based products.” – Hans Backström, Food Retail Sales Director at S Group, told Vegconomist.

What are the growth figures in Hungary?

In Hungary, more and more shops, restaurants and webshops are getting involved in Veganuary by expanding their offer and helping customers with special offers. For specific sales figures for the domestic market, we asked Hungarian Veganuary organiser Vida Raul:

“We have data from retailers, and some of them have conducted more serious surveys of their consumers after the campaign. In general, I can say that most of our partners have experienced a very visible increase in interest and sales of vegan products during Veganuary. According to their own measurements, several companies have seen an increase of 10% or more. Also, thousands of participants have used exclusive coupons and taken advantage of the discounts we are offering to participants for the first time.”

Featured image source: S Group