Fresh-keeping prospects of seafood and aquatic products industry

After snacks, pork and other categories have left the supermarket to become independent stores and formed an industry scale, aquatic specialty stores also appeared. Modified atmosphere fresh-keeping packaging is also appearing in many stores.

Entering the new retail era of aquatic products

People in the retail industry believe that consumption upgrades and the promotion of new retail have made the traditional concept of high-end ingredients and seafood more and more popular, and economies of scale have brought about a reduction in wholesale costs.

However, from the point of view of operation, the hardware investment of aquatic products management is large, and the growth cycle of fish, shrimp and crab is distinct, unlike fruits and vegetables, which can be replaced by different origins throughout the year. More importantly, supermarkets have strengthened their fresh products, and the coverage of new retail stores has also increased. Aquatic specialty stores bluntly said that the competition pressure is not small.

stimulated aquatic market

In addition to the higher consumption of aquatic products brought about by consumption upgrades, a series of new retail projects such as Hema Xiansheng and 7fresh have also played a key role. The selling points of these new retails at the beginning are fresh seafood, providing on-site processing, educational consumption and market popularization services.

The price of raw seafood has reached a level close to the people, providing consumers with purchasing opportunities, and providing additional functions of processing and cooking, which has played a certain role in the aquatic consumer market.

According to the "China Agricultural Outlook Report (2015-2024)", in the next 10 years, the transformation and upgrading of aquatic product production will be accelerated, the consumption demand will continue to grow, and the market supply and demand structure will continue to be optimized; the import and export volume will first decrease and then increase, and net imports will The amount keeps increasing.

During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the total consumption of aquatic products will continue to grow, with an average annual growth rate of 1.4%.

More importantly, the growth in consumer demand has brought about a virtuous cycle of seafood sales.

In the past few years, Shouhang Supermarket has developed from seldom involved in fresh food, and fresh food can account for nearly 20% of the entire aquatic product category. Supermarkets are strengthening aquatic product categories:

■ From joint venture to self-operated, the price, channel and quality have been improved;

■ Supermarkets are sorting out the supply chain resources for aquatic products. Supermarkets have noticed the performance of consumption upgrades in aquatics.

High retail operating costs

Although macro data and market reactions have released positive signals for seafood consumption, the cost of entering the retail industry is quite high.

The first is operating costs, store decoration, rent and deposits, hardware facilities such as seafood pools, freezers and air curtain cabinets, labor costs, working capital, and purchase costs. The cost of these necessary options for opening a store has reached its peak.

Moreover, the electrical power of electrical equipment such as seafood pools, freezers and air curtain cabinets is 5,000 watts, which is similar to the electricity consumption of a large supermarket. The electricity bill for commercial electricity is a large cost.

Secondly, the maintenance cost of live fresh is high. The seafood pond needs to have purification and cooling functions. At the same time, the staff must adjust the salinity according to the type of fish. In addition, the survival rate of live fresh also directly affects the price. Need to sell at a deep discount right away.

Frozen fresh is currently the mainstream variety of aquatic products in supermarkets. Generally, aquatic products in supermarkets are divided into four categories: frozen fresh, chilled, live and dried.

Dried fresh has always been a supplementary category, while live fresh is mostly freshwater fish, and because of the high cost, it is not common. Most supermarkets in the aquatic product area mainly focus on frozen fresh, supplemented by chilled fresh.

Aquatic product chain is difficult to scale

At present, there are no stores specializing in selling aquatic products in the market. In fact, up to now, there are no mature professional aquatic products brands operating nationwide.

Some chain operators say that there are no chain companies in aquatic specialty stores or seafood supermarkets. In other categories, such as fruit, snacks, and pork, many large-scale enterprises and even listed companies have been born. Format brands have become leaders in their respective industries.

Regardless of the north and south, the proportion of aquatic products in domestic supermarkets in terms of category and sales is not high. Generally, the sales of aquatic products account for less than 5% of the entire fresh food. For the entire store, this figure has dropped to 1%-2%.

In view of the situation of aquatic product consumption, even the consumption upgrade has not reached the level of needing aquatic product specialty stores. From the perspective of the supermarket as a whole, the proportion of aquatic products is very low. Judging from the purchase situation of consumers, aquatic products are not yet high-frequency just-needed categories.

Aquatic seafood products play a role in driving the transfer of customers in supermarkets. If there are Alaskan snow crabs and groupers in the store, then in the long run, the level of consumers who come to the store will also change accordingly.

The well-known fresh seafood of Hema Xiansheng carries the function of draining popular products. In other places, this category is difficult to operate, and the price-performance ratio provided to users is also very poor. In this context, the variety coverage and cost-effective fresh seafood is very high. , will occupy the mind of the user at once.

In addition to considering storage conditions and prices, the management of fresh food should also consider the business positioning of the brand, but fresh food is currently only an improved category, not a basic category that is just needed. Water to produce fresh air packaging machines is also a major consideration.

If a fruit store can serve 5,000 households, then under the same conditions, an aquatic product store can serve 30,000 households. The consumption of fruits and aquatic products is not at the same level, and the latter is difficult to reach the market size of the former.