84.51º Shopper Insights: Changes in Plant-Based Food Purchasing and How to Adapt Shelf-Space

In December 2024, we partnered with 84.51° to understand changes in plant-based food purchasing from Kroger shoppers. Leveraging real time insights, the research analyzed behaviorally-verified Kroger shoppers who are new buyers or increase buyers (10% or more in units) to plant-based food categories over the past year, in addition to those who decreased purchasing by the same threshold or lapsed during the same time frame. The research objective was to understand changes in plant-based food purchasing patterns, whether shoppers are displacing their animal-based purchases in favor of plant-based, and through this synthesize, understand how to best allocate shelf-space based on consumer needs.

Top line findings:

• Increasers:

  • Reasons for increasing consumption include personal health concerns, benefit to the environment, and taste/flavor.

  • Top categories where shoppers are consuming more plant-based foods instead of animal-based products are Milk (40%), Frozen Meat (28%), and Fresh Meat (25%).

  • Making shopping easier involves more frequent promotions/coupons (61%) and recipe ideas (63%).

• Decreasers:

  • Reasons for decreasing consumption include taste, budgeting for groceries, and lack of deals.

  • Top reasons for fewer purchases are disliking the taste/flavor (27%) and the product no longer fitting in their budget (24%) in December 2024.

  • Factors that would increase purchase likelihood are lower pricing/more frequent sales (53%), better taste/texture (53%), and more plant-based options on the shelf (33%).

For more detailed insights, download the full report below.