According to the latest data from Circana, the plant-based category across Europe's six largest markets grew by 5.1% in 2025 to €16.3 billion, with major European retailers setting ambitious targets to reach a 60% plant-based protein mix by 2030. Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and the UK have the lowest proportion of frequent meat eaters in Europe, with over a third across these markets actively reducing their meat intake. The latest reports from IGD explores how retailers in each of these markets are responding to and shaping that shift.

Germany and Austria's different shelf strategies

Top retailers in Germany and Austria represent two schools of thought on how best to sell plant-based products. In Germany, Lidl placed its Vemondo range directly into the meat and dairy aisles in 2023, pricing products at parity with or below animal-based equivalents. The result was a 30% increase in sales volumes within six months, with Kaufland, Penny and Aldi all following suit. Austria's Billa took the opposite route, opening a fully plant-based flagship store in Vienna in 2022, the first of its kind run by a major European food retailer, using it to test innovation before filtering products into the core range. Billa also introduced price parity and a clean label pledge across its Vegavita private label, recording a 47% uplift in sales of discounted plant-based lines. Both approaches are working, but the difference is whether shoppers in your market need to seek out plant-based in a dedicated environment, or whether the category grows fastest sitting right next to the meat or dairy products it is meant to replace.

Making the transition easier in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is focusing on getting those who are less familiar with or trusting of plant-based products into the category in a way that feels convenient and low effort. In 2024 Albert Heijn launched a recipe swap tool in its app letting shoppers replace ingredients with plant-based alternatives in one click. It also introduced 15 hybrid products in 2025 blending meat or dairy with plant ingredients, priced at or below conventional lines. Across Dutch retail more broadly, investment in pre-cut vegetables and meal kits has been significant, reflecting a wider cultural habit. Ready-to-cook vegetables account for 36% of all Dutch consumer spending on veg, far ahead of comparable European markets, with meal kit sales up 6% in 2024 (Circana). The strategy is not to ask shoppers to change dramatically, but to make plant-based feel like the obvious everyday choice.

UK campaigns to encourage shoppers into the category

The UK has had a mixed performance for the plant-based category, but there are clear signs of recovery driven by collective action. In May 2025, Plant Futures launched their Meat Free Made Easy! campaign, uniting over 40 brands and retailers around a key insight: 51% of UK adults want to eat less meat but only 45% feel confident cooking without it. The campaign used in-store signposting and simple recipe formats to close that gap, with Tesco recording a 7% increase in plant-based sales because of media targeting of omnivores. In November 2025, The Food Foundation and Veg Power launched the Bang in Some Beans, a three-year push to double UK bean consumption backed by Sainsbury's, Lidl GB and Waitrose. Affordable, familiar and credible on health.

Price and processing are shaping the category

Price is the single biggest barrier to plant-based growth across Europe. In the UK, plant-based alternatives still carry a retail price premium of between 38% and 73% over their meat equivalents. Alongside price, the ultra-processed food debate is reshaping the category in its own right. Growing sales of tofu, tempeh and seitan reflect shoppers actively seeking out minimally processed proteins rather than direct meat alternatives, and retailers are starting to reflect that shift in their ranging. According to GFI Europe, this segment grew by almost 30% in Germany and the Netherlands in 2025, with tofu costing around a third of the price of branded plant-based meat in the Netherlands. Even in the UK, retailers like Tesco are seeing a return to growth, with demand for tofu, tempeh and seitan rising 12% (Tesco, 2025). The retailers who will define the category over the next five years are those who treat price parity as a core metric while staying attuned to how shoppers are thinking about ingredients and processing. The appetite for change is there, and the task now is making plant-based the natural, affordable choice.