Market trends for seafood products in the USA: Implication for Southern aquaculture products

Abstract

ABSTRACTIncreased understanding of trends in supermarket sales of seafood and fish has potential to assist the U.S. aquaculture industry to refine marketing strategies and target markets. This article focuses on understanding the marketing of seafood products in grocery retail stores with special emphasis on four major southern aquaculture products (catfish, shrimp, clams and crawfish). The study used store-based as well as household-based scanner data from the Nielsen Company. Results show that frozen/chilled finfish sales (in value) are increasing faster than total frozen seafood sales. Shrimp is the major type of frozen seafood sold in the United States. Among unbreaded finfish, tilapia, whiting, salmon, catfish and flounder occupied the top five ranks in terms of cumulative 5-year sales from 2005–06 to 2009–10. The share of tilapia in retail markets has risen consistently and steeply over the years. Sales performance of products in a market is correlated positively with the degree of promotional pricing given to that product. The study found that the U.S. aquaculture industry needs to develop market-specific strategies to gain further market share in retail stores. Several aquaculture farmers/processors have used the study results to design or redesign their marketing plans and strategies.