Consumers' categorizations of dairy products and plant-based milk, yogurt, and cheese alternatives

Plant-based dairy alternatives have many benefits in terms of sustainability, animal welfare, and health, but they can only be successful in the market if consumers perceive them as suitable substitutes for conventional dairy. Consumers' expectations for new products are strongly influenced by the food categories into which they place these products. The present study aims to reveal consumers' categorizations of plant-based dairy products to gain insights into their potential as dairy substitutes. In a free sorting task, 100 participants from the German-speaking part of Switzerland sorted a variety of plant-based and conventional animal-based dairy products into groups, indicating their spontaneous similarity perceptions. Additionally, we assessed the participants' characteristics and attitudes toward plant-based dairy products to test potential differences in categorization strategies among consumer groups. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis showed that consumers' mental representations of plant-based dairy and conventional animal-based dairy were clearly separated across a wide range of product types. This pattern was even observed among consumers who ate less meat, had higher exposure to vegan dietary styles, and had less negative attitudes toward dairy alternatives. The results suggest that taxonomic distinctions based on plant or animal origin dominate consumers' perceptions and are likely to hinder the substitution of dairy with plant-based dairy. Nevertheless, they also imply that plant-based products that manage to emphasize shared goals and functional properties akin to conventional dairy products are more likely to form a common goal-derived category in consumers' minds and thus have better prospects as substitutes.