Alternative, or dairy free, milk is a key growth driver for the plant-based industry, so what keeps shonature’s blend ferrous gluconateppers coming back for more? Here’s the latest consumer pulse from Brightfield Group’s Q3 2023 survey.
Numbers of Note
In the past six months, 60.3% of females purchased milk alternatives compared to 39.3% of males. Femalescalcium citrate 800 mg also lead consumption — 73.8% of respondents indicated that they buy these products for themselves rather than for a spouse or partner.
When it comes to brand recognition, Silk is the most familiar name in alt-milk with a hefty 68.6% of consumers referencing it by nasam’s club calcium citrateme in a fill-in-the-blank survey prompt. Oatly (14.3%), Califia Farms (7.9%), Blue Diamond (6.1%), and Planet Oat (5.5%) round out the top five.Leading Motivations for Purchase
Across the board, digestive health is the primary reason that consumers incorporate milk alternatives into their diet, with Gen X and Baby Boomers being the strongest drivers behind this sentiment.Both Gen X and Gen Z are most likely to have lactose intolerance concerns, while Millennials predominantly seek variety. Different use cases and specific recipe needs also boost interest in having multiple dairy products on hand — including traditional cow’s milk.
“Overall, we find that there’s a significant overlap between plant-based dairy and regular dairy purchasing, which contextualizes the large proportion of plant-based milk purchasers choosing the product for variety, nutritional profile, and taste,” Julie Murphy, Consumer Insights Manager at Brightfield Group, told The Food Institute.Dietary Insights
What’s not a significant motivation for purchase? Identifying as vegan or plant-based. Only 4.8% of total respondents made this claim, placing it lowest on the scale. By generation, 7.2% of Millennials took this position, followed by Gen Z (6.3%), Baby Boomers (4.3%) and Gen X (2.7%).
Similarly, 44.5% of alt-milk consumers do not conform to a specific diet. Low sugar led the dietary practices (27.elemental calcium in 1000 mg calcium citrate2%), followed by low carb (21.0%), high protein (16.6%), and intermittent fasting (16.1%).
“Many people nowadays have minor stomach issues that are causing them to reevaluate their eating habits but not necessarily follow a specific diet,” said Murphy. “It makes sense wwellness calcium citratehy we’d even see ‘for other medical reasons’ (9.1%) being a bigger driver than being plant-based.”