A Rift Between The Promise and The Dream.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” 

It was peak calamari season, tired forearms had been steering skiffs in at a sputter just as the veil of dawn was beginning to lift every morning. 

“The fucking thing still had eyes and tentacles ‘n shit.” 

As confused as having been handed a wheel of cheese, my dear friend, Manzo, stood over his kitchen sink, locked in a stalemate with the calamari which even in death, challenged him as it menacingly stared back. Ivansky, a local diver with connections with the local fishermen, had proudly promised Manzo a fresh calamari a few days back. Manzo had eagerly accepted, clearly semantics didn’t match. 

The complaint found its way to Ivansky: “What did you expect? That’s what a calamari is.” 

The calamari was promptly re-gifted like a Christmas season fruitcake, and the saga continued in another household. 

Most of us in the seafood space would have made quick work of a fresh, free, 5 kg calamari; brought out our sharpest knife and tenderizer, and portioned it for the week. So why was Manzo so irate? Apart from the classically Italian "short fuse", his grievance was rooted in disappointment and frustration with unmet expectations. To be honest, I wasn’t too surprised, I just hadn’t seen him this spun up since pineapple on pizza (cue in the italian hands). 

Unfortunately, seafood brands don’t get the luxury of having consumers asking “What the hell do I do with this?”. Instead, consumers just waltz right past their products, not even giving them the chance to fight for a spot in the coveted shopping basket. 

It is no secret, the seafood industry is in dire need of innovation on the consumer facing front. For the better part of the last decade, the seafood industry has been arduously laboring away at diverting attention towards its two or three presentations: fresh or frozen options of whole or fileted. These presentations have been great for the restaurant industry which made up between 55% to 70% of seafood purchases in the pre-pandemic era (figures will vary between sources). They have the know-how to transform seafood into value-added consumer products, colloquially called “menu items”, therefore not having many needs beyond inventory management like quick turnaround times and quality guarantee. 

Seafood producers and retailers haven’t had to invest beyond logistics and distribution for the most part when it comes to business development strategies. Innovation aimed at efficiency of delivery to specifically meet the restaurant industry’s needs has encircled strategy sessions rather than creating unique selling propositions through value-added products. 

With seafood sales going in the only direction which I don’t like to run: up; there hasn’t been much of a rush to expand the definition of innovation and dabble in product development. That is, until COVID19 popped its head into our lives. We all know it, we’ve read it everywhere: the COVID19 pandemic shifted consumer trends, with retail sales of seafood surpassing restaurant sales for the first time in recent years. Retail seafood sales were up around 10% from the pre-pandemic era. 

“Yeah, so what Aacini, what are you getting at?”

Glad you asked, getting back to the consumer facing side of the conversation. The early 2000s saw an exodus from kitchens; lives too busy to be bothered with cooking a 30 minute meal (the clean up is another story), careers and social life demanding the lion’s share of our time. Luckily there was no shortage of establishments more than happy to exchange the convenience of offering on-demand, healthy meals made with quality ingredients under a variety of settings (fine dining, casual dining, and specialty restaurants to name a few) for some money. Essentially the restaurant industry was doing “the dirty work” of creating the seafood’s unique selling proposition, charging a premium for the convenience. 

It’s not hard to put 2 and 2 together: heavy restrictions on the restaurant industry pushed consumption out of the public table and into the everyday kitchen; suddenly making that initially uninteresting 45% to 30% of the market a bit more interesting. If you didn’t do it, you know at least one person who did; many in the seafood industry suddenly had their go at direct-to-consumer sales with mixed results; some claim it was a much needed lifesaver while others experienced a summer poolside flop. 

Too many factors go into play to be able to make a generalized assessment about why certain D2C endeavors succeeded or failed; but one thing that we all know but don’t like to talk about is that the average consumer doesn’t know how to cook seafood. In executive terms: consumers are familiar with the product’s features and benefits (thanks to our savvy marketing department) but don't possess the know-how to attain value from these products. 

Fill in the blank as you please: “x% of consumers said they would consume more seafood if they knew how to cook it”; we have seen this everywhere. 

If everytime we needed to commute we received an IKEA style kit for a bike: baggies with bearings to assemble the wheels, coils of tubing for the hydraulic brakes, an unassembled chain; but we were able to go buy an assembled scooter, a lot more of us would scoot around on our commute even though bikes have better features like a seat. 

“You still didn’t answer my question Aacini.”

Glad you noticed. Products are the proverbial boots on the ground, no amount of money behind marketing will consistently push a product into a shopping basket who’s gate-keepers are 1) “Do you have what I want?” and 2) “Do I know what to do with you?” 

Designing consumer-centered products is a strategic first move to taking advantage of the rising consumer trend. There is a clear interest and rising demand; it is a question of responding to the average consumer’s specific needs through features that enable final value. 

Businesses that question their definition of innovation and broaden their perception of the features, benefits, and value will get a firm foothold in consumer markets and go from being on the backfoot to bouncing on our toes, ready for the next opportunity.