Fresh seafood has increasingly become a strategic priority in hypermarkets and supermarkets due to the sector’s huge growth potential, said Roberto Butrageno, retailer services manager at Nielsen.
Specialist retailers — such as fishmongers — have a 43% market share in value for fresh products, while large retailers — hypermarkets and supermarkets — have an 89% share in packed products.
For fresh products, large retailers still have a significant market share to reach when compared to packed products, which shows the considerable growth potential, Butrageno said on June 4 at the XV AECOC congress on seafood products held in Baiona, near Vigo in Spain.
“Fresh products’ sales in Spain generate €25 billion, out of which €10bn could be potentially earned by hypermarkets and supermarkets,” Butrageno said.
Nielsen also highlighted the market niche for online sales, as this platform already involves €300m in sales, of which fresh products contribute just 0.3%.
Fresh goods make up a third of the annual amount spent in the shopping basket in Spain — totaling €70.7bn in 2013.
Consumers in Spain buy fish at least twice per week, which makes seafood products an important driver to generate consumer traffic in shops.
However, consumers have shown price sensitivity for fresh products. Last year, fresh product prices increased by 2.8% and the category dropped 2.5% in sales volume in response.
For seafood products, price-sales correlation is quite clear.
Fresh fish showing the greatest growth in sales volume last year were cefalophods — from 7.8% in 2012 to 9.1% in 2013 — and sardines — from 9.3% in 2012 to 9.8% last year.
Species hit by higher prices were hake, dropping by 9.6% to 16.9%; molusks, decreasing by 11.1% to 8% and shellfish, down by 11.8% to 5.2%.
€1 format, key to sale
Since Spanish households’ budget has been hit by the economic climate, every cent counts for consumers.
This means consumers would prefer to buy a product of €1 against another with a higher price, even when the second is actually priced cheaper per kilo.
“Round prices, such as €1 formats, are working fairly well, even if they result more expensive in kilos than other products. The client is not so rational,” Butrageno said.