How salmon can swim upstream

Nathan Ward spoke at the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation conference on 16 March 2017.

Asked to present on how the industry can understand consumers better, Nathan introduced some background on the grocery market, which has been changing in recent years in response to slow market growth. Inflation, which recently returned after more than two years of deflation, is becoming an increasingly important factor.

Looking at changes within the market, the big four retailers’ growth has been slowing, with the discounters growing ahead of the market and premium retailers also taking share. This is of vital importance to the salmon sector, as the discounters have potential barriers further growth, with lower trip spend and frequency than the traditional retailers.

From the retailer point of view, value simplicity is important, so many are cutting back on promotions, especially multi-buys which are now at their lowest level since 2010.

Nathan covered key figures for salmon specifically, demonstrating that it is a huge market:
• Now worth £710m, value has grown 29% in the last 5 years.
• Some 16.8 million households buy salmon up 1 million on five years ago.
• One in four shopping trips for fish involves salmon.

The challenge for future growth will be how to move outside of the current demographic strongholds - older and more upmarket households. There are huge opportunities for the sector, whether that’s broadening the base of shoppers, embracing innovation and convenience to fit with busy lives, or leveraging already well established healthy credentials.