Aldi announces the addition of several new SKUs to its own-brand Plant Menu range in the UK and states that it predicts a “huge” uptick in plant-based sales of around 40% this Veganuary.
The Veganuary offerings, while it is unclear whether they will be permanent or seasonal, come as part of the discounter’s commitment to provide more than 1,000 products in its plant-based range by the end of this year. In Q1 2023 Aldi stated in its nutrition report: “Our goal is to offer our customers 1,000 plant-based product varieties spread across the year in our standard, seasonal and promotional ranges by the end of 2024. To achieve this goal, we are focusing not only on reducing the small quantities of animal-based ingredients in our products, but also on consistently expanding our vegan range”.
By May 2023 Aldi claimed it had almost reached the goal of 1000 fully vegan products, stating it had surpassed 950 vegan-labeled product varieties, from vegan cosmetics to plant-based alternative products.
The new additions to the own-brand Plant Menu range include:
- Plant Menu Corn Dogs (£1.99, 180g)
- Plant Menu No Chicken Pieces (£2.49, 280g) Entailing wings and tenders
- Plant Menu Vegetable Fritters (£1.99, 150g) In two varieties, Vegetable Tempura Fritters with a Black Rice Vinegar Dip or Spicy Sweetcorn Fritters with a Sweet Chilli Dip
- Plant Menu Veggie Bites (£1.99, 160g)
- Plant Menu Smoked No Salmon Slices (£2.99, 100g)
- Plant Menu Mushroom Bolognese and Plant Menu Coronation Chickpea Curry (£2.39, 380g)
- Vegan Breakfast Pastries – Two vegan pastries: Plant Menu Croissants and Plant Menu Pain-au-Chocolat (£1.89, 360g)
- Cornetto-inspired ice creams in two flavours: Plant Menu Strawberries & Cream and Hazelnut & Praline Vegan Ice Cream Cones (£1.99, 4 pack)
Discounters win over Christmas period
According to the latest data from Kantar released just yesterday, UK supermarkets saw their highest level of transactions during the Christmas period since 2019: “Britons made 488 million trips to the supermarkets over the four weeks to 24 December – 12 million more than last year and the largest number at Christmas since pre-pandemic times. A record £13.7 billion passed through the tills, with the average household spending an all-time high of £477 across the month, an increase of £28 on 2022,” states the world’s leading marketing data company.
“Lidl and Aldi continue to be the fastest growing grocers year on year and the discounters hit their highest ever market shares for the Christmas period. Lidl increased sales by 13.8%, while Aldi saw growth of 9.9%. Lidl’s market share rose by 0.5 percentage points to 7.7% and Aldi’s grew 0.2 percentage points, meaning its market share now stands at 9.3%,” explains the organisation.
Following Lidl and Aldi’s lead, Sainsbury’s came next with a 9.3% sales increase from the previous December, while Kantar revealed that the lowest-performing supermarkets included Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose and Iceland.
Aldi’s NEW Plant Menu range is available in stores now.
