Frequency of buying vegan products in supermarkets by vegans Australia and NZ 2022

In a survey conducted amongst vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians in Australia and New Zealand in 2022, over a quarter of respondents indicated that they purchase vegan food and drinks in supermarkets often. Less than five percent of respondents said they never purchased vegan food and drinks in supermarkets.

Plant-based meat alternative consumption on the rise

Australia’s meat substitutes market revenue has been rising year-on-year since 2014, reaching over 90 million Australian dollars in 2022. Consumers across the country are becoming more open to trying meat alternatives, with over 50 percent reporting that they had tried a plant-based meat product at least once. The majority of those who had tried vegan meat reported having a positive experience, while around a quarter of consumers described meat substitutes as disappointing or awful. The top place Australian shoppers purchased plant-based meats in 2022 was the supermarket.

Are plant-based milk alternatives disrupting the dairy industry?

Per-capita consumption of cow’s milk has been declining year-on-year since 2018, with forecasts showing that this trend is expected to continue. Milk substitutes, on the other hand, are growing in popularity, with consumption on the rise. More and more people are swapping cow’s milk for alternatives, such as soy and almond milk. Around two percent of Australian consumers indicated that they exclusively buy plant-based milk, with a further 38 percent purchasing both non-dairy and dairy milk on a regular basis. Nonetheless, plant-based milk alternatives still hold a much smaller share of Australia’s drinking milk market in comparison to fresh dairy milk, which holds over 75 percent of the market share. However, in tandem with consumers becoming more sustainability-focused, the plant-based meat and milk alternatives market could expand greatly in the coming years.