60% of households buy plant-based: the identikit and most purchased products

More and more Italians are choosing plant-based alternatives to the classic meat and cheese proteins. This is not a mass switch to vegetarianism, but a trend towards greater diversification of the daily diet, also by resorting to so-called plant-based products that increase the choice on the supermarket shelves: the so-called flexitarians are doing this.

Confirmation comes from an elaboration by YouGov Shopper, according to which plant-based purchasing in 2024 involved more than 15 million households, reaching an absolute penetration of 59.3%. This is up by more than 2 percentage points, while the frequency of purchase marks a +9.6%, which influences the average purchase (+1.8%). "The only counter-trend figure," write YouGov Shopper, "is that of the average purchase per act (-7.1%), with a drop that confirms also in this sector the new habits of Italian families who are shopping more and more often but in smaller and smaller quantities.

Analysing plant-based gastronomy (fresh or frozen), the data show a prevalence of purchasers in households in Northern Italia, belonging to medium-high socio-economic classes, over 45 years of age and without children. More than 60% of the households choosing plant-based gastronomy are in fact single or two-member households.

Among the factors explaining the growth in the purchase of plant-based products is the increasing popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets in Italy. According to YouGov Shopper, 3 million people declare themselves vegetarian (3.7% of the population, or 2.1 million people) or vegan (1.5% of the total, 855,000 people).

Analysing the motivations for this consumption trend, for the majority of those who adopt them - predominantly women (55%) and residents in the North (52%) - the incentive to follow these diets is the desire to have a certain lifestyle (32%). Also relevant is personal health, which motivates 31% of shoppers to choose vegan and vegetarian products.