Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 1 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 1 (2022)

Все тренды, связанные с потребительским поведением и с развитием рынков, находятся в России в фазе роста. Причем пандемия коронавируса не только не помешала, а, наоборот, подтолкнула развитие этих трендов. Эксперты в сфере импакт-бизнеса сегодня ищут ответ на вопрос: «Люди сами создают новые запросы и меняют рынок или передовые предприниматели направляют массового потребителя в более гуманистический вектор общественного питания?» Однако очевидно, что начало теории изменений положено. И незыблемая в течение нескольких тысячелетий позиция в отношении пищевого потребления на практике оказывается не такой уж и незыблемой.

Flexitarians, Pandemic and plant-Based Products: How Healthy Lifestyle Changes the FMCG Retail Market

Yulia Vyatkina

DOI 10.55140/2782-5817-2022-2-1-54-59

Numerous studies in the market for conscious consumption in food service and retail show that an increasing number of people in Russia opt for a diet that is mostly plantbased with rare inclusions of animal-source foods. These people are called flexitarians. Modern-day food service and retail industries provide flexitarians with a rather wide variety of goods and special offers. Meanwhile, experts claim that the analysis of these growing markets demonstrates the efficiency of social impact and requires new ways to measure it in complex systems with a plethora of simultaneous factors and trends.

Yulia Vyatkina

Journalist

TRENDS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Conscious consumption is one of the key trends that shape the development of the FMCG retail market in 2022. Consumers have long been aware of the green agenda, and they increasingly shift from supporting abstract ideas to specific actions, that is, they integrate these ideas into their everyday lives.

Researchers identify four main trends in shopping and consumption behavior in relation to conscious consumption in food service and retail industries:

• sustainable consumption;

• healthy lifestyle and healthy diet;

• forgoing meat and animal products;

• wellness (attention to mental health).

All four trends are based on health consciousness. An interesting fact — the decrease in consumption of animal products coincided with the start of the coronavirus pandemic in January 2020. Joint research conducted by Edim Luchshe (Eating Better) project and the National Agency for Financial Studies think-tank in September 2021 shows that the Russians are now three times more likely to include plant-based alternatives to meat and milk in their diet. One third of respondents have tried plant-based meat or milk (34 % and 31 % respectively). For comparison, in the early 2020 these numbers stood at 10 % and 9 %. The research also highlights that most active consumers of plant-based meat and dairy products are people younger than 34 years living in cities.

The results of the research correlate with the finding of a survey conducted by online retailer Samokat and Efko group of companies in April 2021. According to the survey, while 90 % of Russians still prefer the "traditional” diet, 6 % of those surveyed called themselves vegans or vegetarians, 36 % said that they are considering foregoing meat, and 12 % are already trying to limit their consumption of meat products.

In other words, the two polls show that there has been a massive shift towards curtailing the consumption of animal-based products since 2020.

Experts agree that the number of Russians who are trying to eat less meat is on the rise. Nadezhda Petrova, editor-in-chief of Vegetarian.ru website, and Ruslan-Alfred Miniakhmetov, head of Sloth Ethic Food company producing vegan food, believe that at least 2 % of Russians, or almost 3 million people in the country, are vegetarians. The numbers may vary because there are also "opportunistic vegans” — for instance, many people do not eat meat or dairy products during fasting periods for religious reasons.

AND WHAT ABOUT EUROPE?

According to researchers, other reasons for giving up on meat are poverty and high meat prices (the so-called "vegetarians against their will”), as well as the emergence and availability of vegetarian products in supermarkets. Some just follow the mainstream trends, because in Western countries plant-based diets have been popular since 2000s. In 2003, the American Dialect Society recognized "flexitarian” as the most useful word of the year, defining it as "a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat”.