Why You Need to Stock Dairy Free Alternatives

A bulk of the population still consumes dairy products on a daily basis, but there is a subset in the population who choose not to for various reasons. It is always important to accommodate every customer’s needs if you want an all-inclusive consumer base.

You can also gain in profits for offering dairy-free products because you are reaching a new audience. Providing both dairy and dairy free alternatives will open up possibilities of gaining new customers who will more than likely appreciate your efforts and become loyal repeat buyers.

There are a lot of products that contain dairy. It may surprise you to find dairy milk in unexpected places. The obvious items include milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, and pastries. Some things you might not expect include crackers, canned tuna, granola, broth, and even medications. People who want or need to avoid dairy may have a hard time finding products to replace these goods.

You can become a part of the solution for people who struggle with finding non-dairy products by including them in your stock. It can be very helpful to include a dairy-free filter on your online store or to have a specific section that people can shop in. For customers who need this due to dietary restrictions, they will be very thankful for the thoughtfulness you put in.

Reasons Why People Need Dairy-Free

The main reasons why people need to purchase non-dairy goods are both health-related and ethical. Both are legitimate concerns. The majority of non-milk drinkers do so because their bodies cannot process it. However, there are others who choose it because they are morally opposed to the treatment of cows.

Health-Related Reasons

Some people have allergic reactions to dairy milk and milk proteins, so the need to avoid dairy is serious. Being allergic to milk is a bit different from being lactose intolerant.

Having an allergy creates more adverse reactions such as hives, vomiting, and bloody stools. It is especially worrisome for infants, who may grow out of their allergy in time. Mothers need to be careful about breastfeeding their babies who have dairy allergies. They cannot consume dairy themselves, or else mothers will feed it to the baby through their breast milk.

Unfortunately, unless children grow out of the allergy (which is relatively common), they will need to be very careful about what they eat and drink. Just like most other allergies, it can be life-threatening for them to consume too much milk, because it can cause an inability to breathe.

Lactose intolerance can cause extreme discomfort and bloating. There are people who live with lactose intolerance who allow themselves to consume small amounts of dairy. It isn’t terribly harmful for them. Their bodies are just not as equipped as others when it comes to digesting lactose. Genetics is typically the causee of lactose intolerance. So, it runs in families and is more likely than non-lactose intolerant people to pass it down.

There is no real cure for dairy allergies or lactose intolerance. The only thing that those affected by them can do to make sure they don’t have bad reactions is to avoid dairy altogether.

Ethical Reasons

There are reasons other than physical ones to avoid dairy products. Dairy cow farmers do not treat their cattle fairly. In order to produce milk, farmers artificially impregnate dairy cows on a yearly basis and remove the calves once the cows give birth. The farmer would then leave the calves alone to raise themselves to become dairy cows, or send them to the slaughterhouse.

The cows are genetically modified to produce 12 times more milk than they would naturally. Because people work and milk them so hard on a daily basis, cows only survive for about 5 years on dairy farms before handlers deem unfit and send them to slaughter. If you raise cows naturally and allow them to graze, then they can typically live for up to 25 years.

All around, humans do not treat cows well physically. They are herbivores, and their main diet should be grass, but cows in dairy farms are fed grains and leftover waste from the killing floors. This causes them to have many health problems that could be easily prevented if only people fed and handled them properly.

With all of this mistreatment, it is understandable for people to want to give up dairy entirely. After researching the truth behind dairy farms, it could make anyone’s stomach churn.

Become the Solution

By selling alternatives to dairy, you are supporting consumers who either physically cannot digest dairy or who have personally decided that refusing dairy products is the right thing to do. They will be grateful for you taking their needs into consideration. There are so many products that you can add to your inventory that it will open up a new market

If you are currently only selling traditional dairy products, you are limiting your earning potential. You may have even gotten requests from customers about including different options. This is definitely a sign that you need an update.

When people ask for a certain type of product and you give it to them, they will feel personally gratified. There are probably other people who had wished you were selling those products. They might never have taken the effort to ask, so they went to another seller. If they see that you have expanded to include food items they want, they will surely appreciate it.

Overall, adding on dairy-free products as alternatives for those who need them is a great way to improve your customer satisfaction and sales. Now more than ever, sales for these products are becoming popular, and you would not want to miss out on the potential income. As milk consumption drops, dairy-free goods grow. It has become a booming, billion-dollar industry. Do not miss out on stocking non-dairy products.

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