A Fast Growing Trend
Over the last few years, more and more people have taken to the vegan diet. Veganism is becoming more of a prominent choice among consumers for a variety of reasons including ethical, environmental, and health concerns. A survey in 2019 for example, found that the number of vegans in Great Britain QUADRUPLED between 2014 and 2019. This number is only expected to rise, and businesses have already started to adapt for their vegan customers, with the availability of vegan ready-meals increasing by 92% between 2018 and 2021.
So what exactly is veganism? If you’re not sure what we’re referring to, a vegan diet is one that consists of only plant-based foods, vegetables, grains, nuts, and fruits. It differs from a vegetarian diet because vegans don’t eat dairy products or eggs – as these come from animals. This can also extend to other products outside of someone’s diet. Many people now look for vegan alternatives to leather and fur in their clothing, as well as in beauty and cosmetic products.
With this in mind, it’s important that businesses with vegan customers are able to instill trust in those consumers that their products are indeed vegan. There are a variety of reasons why someone might go vegan, each making them mindful of the products they buy. If a business cannot provide that level of trust, consumers won’t buy.
How You Can Build Trust With Vegan Customers
Vegan Labelling
At face value, a good way of instilling trust in your product is by labeling it with a certified symbol, like the Vegan Trademark symbol shown that is provided by the Vegan Society. In order to display this type of symbol on your product, you must adhere to the standards required. When your vegan customers see this label on your product, they’ll know it has been certified by the relevant bodies and can have peace of mind in using it.
Product Traceability
Traceability is the ideal solution to providing insight into your own operations and a product’s journey through each stage of its production. More importantly, this allows you to provide transparency to vegan customers into what has gone into your product so that they can be sure that the product is indeed vegan. With a traceability system in place, like our very own Dynamic Traceability System, you can track and trace products or ingredients throughout your production line, from goods-in through to packaging and despatch. Being able to track and record your processes in real-time allows you to verify at any given time that the correct vegan ingredients are being used.
Ingredient Labelling & Transparency
Another benefit of effective traceability is the ability to provide a detailed list of ingredients that can be found in a given product. By adding this onto the product’s label, you give the customer chance to read and inform themselves on the exact ingredients found in the product. From here, they can make their own, informed purchasing decisions.
While it is an offence to purposely mislead consumers with labelling and product descriptions, there is no legal requirement to label food products as vegan. By definitively labelling your ingredients, you are demonstrating to your vegan customers that you want to go beyond your obligations to help them make decisions and building trust in your product and brand as a result.
Building trust with your customers is made easy with the use of a traceability system. By using one of our Essentials or Dynamic Traceability Systems, you’ll gain valuable insight into your product throughout its life cycle. This will not only help you pass any vegan certification, but with it, you can provide customers with a detailed list of ingredients so that they can make an informed decision.
Looking to add traceability to your business? Find out more about our Dynamic Traceability System in our FREE brochure below, or you can get in touch with us at [email protected] or by calling 01254 685200 for a quote.
