The month of action for a meatless lifestyle was obvious, now it ends. Above all, young high earners grabbed it.
No, this time there was no escape. Magazines printed recipes, retailers ran ads, and customers shared their experiences online. And: In January there were many new products on the shelves (according to the Veganer Gesellschaft 109), which all had one thing in common: they are vegan.
Action month January
The Veganuary campaign month, in which everything revolves around plant-based nutrition, was unmissable. What was it primarily about?
The fact that food manufacturers and retailers want to educate their customers to be vegan for moral reasons was not the focus. Above all, the plant-based substitute products are a lucrative business. But the retailers prefer not to talk about how well it sold. Apart from the unsurprising statement that in January “demand rose sharply” (Coop) and “significantly higher sales were recorded” (Migros), they make the Veganuary a well-kept trade secret.
doubled demand
At Coop, the demand for vegan substitute products almost doubled from 2020 to 2021. Lidl increased sales by 60 percent in the same period. The retail trade earned 117 million francs in 2020 with the new segment.
Even the meat processor Bell Food Group (Coop) makes a good 20 percent of its sales with vegetarian and vegan products.
ascending trend
The trend is clear: In its latest report, the Federal Office for Agriculture writes that the proportion of vegetarians and vegans in the population is five percent, with a slight upward trend. But they are not the only ones who use substitute products. The group of so-called flexitarians, who deliberately avoid eating meat several times a month, increased to 20 percent.
In general, the higher the income, the lower the meat consumption. According to the FOAG report, tofu, seitan or peas are particularly popular with young, well-earning families from German-speaking Switzerland. A particularly promising group for trade that needs to be courted.
After all, today’s youngsters are tomorrow’s regular customers.