We are now firmly into Veganuary, with thousands of people across the country sticking to vegetarian and vegan diets for the first month of the New Year, in an effort to eat in a more sustainable fashion and experience the potential health benefits of the diet.
Many participants are trying for the first time, some may be seasoned vegans, but one thing is clear – Veganuary is growing, and fast.
Since it launched in 2014, the clean-eating movement has experienced an explosion in popularity, more than doubling in numbers year on year into 2020.
Over a quarter of a million people took part in last year’s campaign, and the trend is set to continue.
While still in its infancy, more and more people are being made aware of the potential health benefits of a vegan diet, and documentaries published in recent times have helped to highlight the ethical nature of the diet.
This has been characterized by rapidly growing numbers of health and supplements stores, cafes, eateries and even pubs offering vegan menus across Britain in major urban centres, not to mention the introduction of vegan-only establishments.
Will Broome, CEO and Founder of innovative shopping app Ubamarket, believes that retailers and grocers could take notice of this growing interest, to ensure they can cater to a larger audience and make it as easy as possible for customers living a vegan lifestyle to enjoy and streamline their shopping experience:
“Movements like Veganuary have proven themselves in recent years in their ability to initiate real change and gain real popularity.
You only need to take a short walk in any of Britain’s major cities to see the number of vegan offerings in cafes, restaurants, and pubs everywhere, especially in London.
Retailers and grocers would be wise to take heed of this rapid growth in popularity – according to Ubamarket’s research, 1 in 3 Brits say that they are eating significantly more vegan and vegetarian meals in their diets.
If they can be ahead of the curve when it comes to their in-store offerings and accessibility for vegan and vegetarian customers, they will likely secure a solid base of loyal customers.
Retail tech, such as the app provided by Ubamarket, can help stores to completely personalise and streamline their in-store experiences for customers, making it much easier to identify and appeal to different consumer bases.”