About Us - market orientation
intro | market | health | environmental control
Improving market orientation
Producers across Europe appreciate that the market for fish is increasingly complex and international. In most countries food distribution and retailing is dominated by a small number of international companies, who prefer to work with larger-scale producers on tightly specified contract terms. Smaller-scale aquaculture producers can find it difficult to sell to these multiple retailers whilst also finding it difficult to find a large enough local market for their production.
Aquaculture producers are also finding that food production is increasingly regulated and that stricter requirements such as product traceability and the need for processing operations to meet specific hygiene and quality control standards are being imposed.
A fine display of fisheries and aquaculture produce
at the Harrods department store in London - but how
would different consumer groups react to this display?
Modern European consumers also have greater expectations of product quality and safety than perhaps might have been tolerated in the past, and in many places, younger consumers in particular are unattracted by wholefish and presentations where skin and bone remain.
For many producers, these issues can appear as difficulties to be faced rather than opportunities to be exploited.
Marketing is often viewed as "persuading consumers to purchase your product", but in reality it is much more about "what does the market want and how can I meet that demand?" In answering that, businesses have traditionally studied the market, broken it down into sectors (sub-groups of consumers) and then targeted the largest or potentially most profitable sectors. However, as the market becomes larger (e.g. with EU enlargement, general internationalisation and better communications) and more diverse, many companies are finding opportunities in targeting the smaller segments (often called niche markets).
State of the art processing facilities for smoked trout in Poland
For aquaculture producers it is easy to see the "finished product" as a fresh whole fish ready for market. For most consumers however, the final product is the eating experience, which can be influenced by many factors both sensory and relating to a person's wider perceptions about the product. The experience of purchasing and preparing the product for eating can also be very important.
"Delivering what the market wants" is therefore at the heart of modern market driven economies such as exists in the European Union. Producers must either find buyers who wish to purchase their products at prices higher than their cost of production, or they need to produce different products that are in greater demand. Current markets are some guide to demand, but don't forget to ask "what products do people want, but can't easily get?"
A common problem for all primary producers is that they are the furthest away from the consumer in terms of the market chain so the pressures of price competition at the retail outlets are passed back through the chain, impacting on them most. Shortening the market chain is therefore a popular strategy for producers seeking greater connection with their market and improving profitability, whilst including processing adds additional value to the product.
Vacuum packed smoked carp produced by a cooperative in France
- producers adding value and shortening the value chain
The Aquaculture Innovation Network is therefore aiming to help businesses to understand and respond better to market opportunities through learning, networking and collaboration. Practical initiatives are expected to include:
- Greater focus on and assurance of product quality
- Potential for cooperatives to allow small producers to act as large producers
- New product development (especially processed products) involving new processing equipment and facilities
- New distribution channels to grow niche markets
- Product or activity diversification (new species or diversification into meeting the needs of anglers, tourists, naturalists, countryside recreation etc)
- Identification and promotion of unique product attributes such as location of production, environmental credentials of production methods, functional foods etc.
- Use of quality and other labelling schemes such as organic certification
- Identification and use of new or best methods to communicate with markets
These initiatives will be fostered through our planned events, especially the Study visit to Germany and Environmental control workshop. Supporting information will be provided through the knowledge base and collaborations encouraged through the partnering tools on this site.
