As consumers are faced with the first restriction-free festive season, ShelfNow shares its exclusive insight on sales performance across plant-based, low and no alcohol and various other categories to inform its predictions for this year.
Plant-based alternatives
Across the food and beverage industry, the popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets continues to grow with recent figures revealing that the global plant-based meat market is set to be worth $15.7 billion by 2027.
As the festive season approaches, ShelfNow has seen plant-based alternatives becoming less of an alternative at Christmas and more of key consideration. In 2022 the digital wholesaler added 922 new vegan and vegetarian products to its marketplace.
ShelfNow also shares that many of its partners are providing innovative plant-based options for the seasonal period of indulgence. A longstanding favourite with ShelfNow buyers, Sweet Lounge is a multi-award-winning brand that produces natural, plant-based sweets in compostable packaging.
The company has also seen high sales of tortilla chips from Mexican corn tortilla brand Cool Chile as hospitality operators are looking to stock up on sharing essentials ahead of the Christmas season.
Unique sauces and condiments
With Christmas being a perfect time for parties, ShelfNow has seen surging demand for high-quality, unique sauces and condiments which have seen a 110% increase in sales over the past six months.
As one of ShelfNow’s oldest partners, Indian-inspired Pico Sauces continues to be one of the platform’s most popular products at Christmas. The brand offers a wide variety of sauces to enable households across the nation to reinvent traditional festive meals and experiment with a modern, flavoursome twist on the turkey roast or nut roast.
The marketplace also stocks products from artisan chilli sauce brand Weymouth 51 whose innovative range of sauces is ideal for Christmas canapés and continues to be best-sellers for ShelfNow this year in the run-up to Christmas.
Low/no alcohol
The festive season is well known for social gatherings that are often fuelled by alcoholic beverages, however, the recent low and no trend is transforming drinking habits at Christmas.
Globally, low and no-alcohol drinks remain increasingly popular and the low-and-no-market is expected to register a CAGR of 14% between now and 2030. ShelfNow reports that in recent months its range of low and no-alcoholic drink options has expanded in line with continued demand from consumers.
New additions to the marketplace include alcohol-free bitter aperitif APRTF and mocktail brand Longbottom & Co. With normal socialising predicted to be back in full swing this Christmas, the company has also seen a spike in sales of Double Dutch premium mixers and tonics.
Surprisingly, functional drinks have proved popular too with ShelfNow buyers in the lead-up to Christmas as a growing number of consumers seek out healthier beverage options.
ShelfNow has recorded strong sales of Agua de Madre’s Pomegranate & Hibiscus and Lemon & Ginger Kefir Water both of which also cater to improved gut health. The company has also recently onboarded pioneering vegetable and fruit enzyme drink JIN JIN to its platform.