| Type |
Proceedings paper |
| Date |
1998-04-24 |
| Language |
English |
| Author(s) |
Paquotte Philippe |
| Meeting |
International Symposium on new species for mediterranean aquaculture, Alghero - Italy April 22-24, 1998 |
| Source |
XXXIII International Symposium on New Species for Mediterranean Aquaculture, Alghero, 22-24 Avril 1998 |
| Mot-Clé(s) |
SEM |
| Keyword(s) |
marketing, seafood consumption, Mediterranean, aquaculture |
| Abstract |
Mediterranean aquaculture development is now at a crossroads. The production of seabass and seabream has been increasing at a smart and constant pace for the last ten years. Nevertheless, it is still far behind the Northern European salmonid industry in terms of level of production, reduction of production costs and market internationalisation. Meanwhile, an in depth transformation of market conditions is ongoing in Europe which remains the main target market for Mediterranean aquaculture products. The most important issues are the soaring role of supermarkets in the distribution chain, the development of new processing techniques like pre-packed fresh fish, the growing importance of catering and the evolution of the consumer behaviour. Seafood consumer behaviour results from contradictory attitudes such as scrutiny of products' origin and farming process, research of the best value for money, desire of social image and need for easy to store and ready to cook fish. As in any other seafood industry, product differentiation has become a pre-requisite to fit consumer's demand and reach new consumers thanks to market segmentation. From a theoretical point of view, two kinds of differentiation have to be taken into account: horizontal differentiation basedon the diversity of presentations of the same quality and vertical differentiation based on a hierarchy of quality. Examining precedents in the poultry industry and salmonid industry make it possible to assess the potential role new species may play in product differentiation. In the case of Mediterranean aquaculture, an analysis of the market structure for fresh fish in France, Italy and Greece reveals two different ways of product differentiation: new well known species with a good image for connoisseur markets and standard quality fish provided by species with high growth potential for the mass market. In any case, particular attention has to be given to reputation, long term production costs and capacity to provide a large range of products. [NOT CONTROLLED OCR] |
| Full Text |
| File |
Pages |
Size |
Access |
| acte-4008.pdf |
11 |
2 MB |
Open access |
|
