In our January client survey, we asked our consumer panelists about their New Year’s resolutions for 2021. Our findings offer some interesting insights into plant-based buyers, their motivations, and the interconnectedness of those motivations. So, what did we find?
TOP 3 RESOLUTIONS
The top two resolutions selected by respondents were Minimize food waste (40%) and Shop locally more often (33%). And while conversations around both of these topics have gained momentum in recent years, it seems likely that COVID-19 has drawn even more attention to them.
Minimizing food waste, for instance, has taken on new meaning amidst pandemic-imposed food shortages, financial hardships, and increased time at home (which often means more time to cook and manage food). Shopping locally, too, stands at the intersection of longer term trends – like healthy eating and combating climate change (by reducing emissions from transport) – and new concerns arising from COVID-19, like an increased sense of community and concerns around the fragility and safety of the supply chain. So it’s not surprising that these resolutions came in at #1 and #2.
Tied with Shop locally more often as the second most popular resolution, 33% of respondents also listed Eat more plant-based foods. That’s noteworthy because all respondents, by virtue of being a part of our panel, are already plant-based buyers (meaning they have purchased a plant-based product, whether milk, meat, cheese, etc., in the 90 days prior to their signing up for the panel). So not only are respondents already purchasing these products, but they want to continue to increase their consumption of them.
LESS MEAT, MORE PLANTS
One emerging theme from our New Year’s resolution question is respondents’ interest in reducing (but not eliminating) meat consumption, and increasing plant consumption. While 33% of respondents indicated wanting to Eat more plant-based foods and 25% wanted to Eat less meat, only 5% listed Stop eating meat as one of their resolutions.
That has important implications as plant-based brands consider their target audiences, since the vast majority of plant-based shoppers have no intention (at least currently) of fully foregoing animal products. They simply want to eat less meat and more plants.
This dietary diversity is also key to the depth and breadth of insights that we’re able to gain from our consumer panel at Moonshot Collaborative. Indeed, 41% of our panelists consider themselves meat eaters, 32% consider themselves meat reducers, about 20% are mostly vegetarian or plant-based, and 8% of panelists identify as vegetarians or vegans. Having access to this full landscape of plant-based buyers gives us a very well-rounded picture of how a brand’s products, messaging, pricing, etc. resonate with plant-based buyers at large, and not just with those who have totally eliminated meat and/or all animal products from their diets.
SUSTAINABLE ASPIRATIONS
Another theme of respondents’ resolutions is sustainability: beyond the incredible 40% of respondents that want to Minimize food waste, we also see that 25% want to Avoid single-use plastic, 20% want to Buy used when possible, 11% want to Carry reusable utensils, and 8% want to Start composting. This is evidence to the fact that plant-based buyers are also aspiring to other sustainable behaviors, which underscores the importance of sustainability as a motivator in their purchase decisions.
Learn more about plant-based buyers with our free report.
At Moonshot Collaborative, we provide unparalleled access to thousands of sustainability-driven consumers, so you can understand their motivations, purchase decisions, and how to appeal to them most efficiently to save money and time.
Photo by Dawid Zawila on Unsplash.
