Promising Plant-based Alternatives: Inside The Cart Of The Modern Consumer
Instacart's interesting consumer data, flexitarian diets, and changing eating habits
Instacart orders surged to high demand during the lockdown as people feared to leave their homes for even the most essential products. During this period of intense change and disruption, the grocery delivery service was able to build data on several notable consumer trends emerging from the pandemic.
Coronavirus prompted many consumers to take a deeper and more introspective look into their eating habits and health-conscious decisions. One change has been the desire for plant-based alternatives to conventional meat and dairy options.
Interest in plant-based products has increased tremendously over the past year with 1 in 3 Instacart consumers purchasing a plant-based alternative (Instacart 2021). Consumers now have a plethora of choices and an accessibility to such rising products, delivered right to their home.
This is a stark contrast to the sparse availability of meat and dairy alternatives in stores not long ago (Instacart 2021). What was previously a limited niche for vegans and vegetarians is now a widespread interest across numerous demographics.
So who is this new plant-based consumer ?
Instacart offers us a unique look ‘into the cart’, painting a picture of the rising plant-based consumer’s preferences, purchases, as well as their demographics, interests, and tendencies. The study provides insight into their shopping preferences based on search data for items on the app, other products they are likely to buy, and ultimately their purchase data. It also forms predictions based on the continuing trends.
This consumer also buys meat:
Interestingly, Instacart found that 43% of these consumers who buy plant-based products also buy meat products (Instacart 2021). More people are becoming ‘flexitarian’, meaning they maintain a semi-vegetarian diet (Healthline 2019). Flexitarian diets center around plant-based foods that allow for consumption of meat and other animal products in moderation. This provides a level of flexibility while still focusing primarily on plant-based consumption . Flexitarian eating habits tend to be more of a lifestyle choice that highlights influential social and environmental trends (Healthline 2019). Buying both meat and plant-based products also provides more opportunity for harmony and consistency in multi-diet households (Instacart 2021). Ultimately, this new plant-based Instacart consumer tends to buy products from both camps.
They are younger:
In terms of age distribution, this consumer does tend to skew younger than their traditional meat and milk counterparts. More than 1 in 3 plant-based consumers are in the 30-39 age bracket (Instacart 2021). However, this large-scale consideration shows a differentiation in the dairy aisle, where soymilk buyers trend older while oat milk buyers trend younger(Instacart 2021). Interestingly, milk alternatives are also the most likely selection for those testing out plant-based products for the first time (Instacart 2021).
They are from the West
According to Instacart, this consumer likely resides west of the Mississippi. Plant-based meats and milks have seen the biggest purchase and adoption in hubs in the west like Portland, the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, and Seattle (Instacart 2021). However, the east coast is expected to play a greater role in this geographic landscape as alternative dairy products are growing in the Southeast United States. Tampa and Orlando, Florida as well as Atlanta, Georgia lead some of these dairy-alternative increases (Instacart 2021). In terms of meat-alternative products, Pittsburg, PA leads the charge, followed by Orlando, FL, and Hampton Roads, VA.
What else are these consumers buying?
This question looks to uncover the tendencies, values, preferences, and interests of consumers who have been adopting such plant-based alternative products. Instacart data details additional items bought in conjunction that this consumer is more likely to buy by analyzing the data in distinct groups. This comparison looks at those who only bought plant-based meat and those who only bought conventional meat. As one may expect, the plant-based meat consumer had a highly different cart composition from that of a conventional meat consumer.
Plant-based meat consumers on Instacart were 11.8x more likely to buy tofu and had a higher tendency for items such as kale, avocados, and kombucha (Instacart 2021). Non-food related items that these consumers were more likely to purchase included dental floss, hand sanitizer, and bubble bath (Instacart 2021). These items suggest a consumer who is careful in in their health-related selection for food as well as their personal items.
Conventional meat consumers had a higher affinity for gravy mixes, canned pasta meals, and donuts (Instacart 2021). These consumers also tended to opt for juice boxes, cola, toaster pastries, and were 1.8x more likely to buy disposable plates. These food items were typically less healthy selections and offered easy and short term solutions.
In terms of lifestyles changes, when Instacart consumers were asked about the grocery and food habits that they adopted during the coronavirus, 30% of consumers surveyed said they planned to continue eating healthier via the food that they prepared at home (Instacart 2021). This included lighter meals and meals that were more plant-based.
This plant-based area of interest continues to grow, as indicated by the increasing propensity of searches across the Instacart site for terms such as “meatless,” “plant-based” “vegetarian” and “vegan” (Instacart 2021). Search popularity has continued to grow in 2021 and it begins to distinguish itself as a more long-term trend and preference.
Will plant-based alternatives continue to steal market and ‘stomach’ share from conventional food companies? To what extent might this trend pan out? Trends look to continue upward with expanding markets and new businesses in sight. It certainly will be interesting to see how these lifestyle habits develop with the years to come post-coronavirus.
Cover photo by Tara Clark on Unsplash
“Plant Power: How Meat and Milk Alternatives Are Taking Over Our Carts.” Instacart Corporate, Instacart, 25 May 2021, www.instacart.com/company/blog/company-updates/plant-power-how-meat-and-milk-alternatives-are-taking-over-our-carts?irgwc=1&utm_source=instacart_impact&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_term=partnertype-mediapartner_adtype-TEXT_LINK_adname-Yummly+Test+Link&utm_campaign=partner-Skimbit+Ltd.&utm_content=clickid-yfbzMBTsSxyLTitwUx0Mo3b%3AUkBzmm1BzT83wM0_campaignid-7412_partnerid-10078_adid-480950_sharedid-vegnews.com.
Streit, Lizzie. “The Flexitarian Diet.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 13 Dec. 2019, www.healthline.com/nutrition/flexitarian-diet-guide#benefits.