Youngsters and committed foodies are the two segments fish and seafood producers should target to increase consumption across the United Kingdom, according to speakers at the Norway-UK Seafood Summit hosted by the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) in London this week.

Heather Middleton, marketing manager at Seafish, said there is growth on the cards in what she categorized as pre-family and new family segments.

“The biggest shift to seafood consumption is when a new child arrives to the family,” Middleton said.

While Seafish focuses on six different segments, these two are the ones with the strongest potential.

Slightly more than 10 percent of UK households fall in the pre-family category, and a nearly 10 percent are new families.

There are clear characteristics to be taken into account when targeting these groups, Middleton said. They are full-time workers, socially active, with limited cooking skills, on a budget and always on the go.

Only 22 percent of these families are comfortable with their income, and 42 percent of consumers aged 18 to 24 say the costs of seafood prevents them from eating more, she said.

In terms of shopping trends, this public tends to buy on their way home -- and is highly impulsive.

“Seafood is definitely not an impulse buy, one needs to plan what they are going to do with the fish when they buy it,” Middleton said.

That is an important point to be acknowledged by the industry, and producers have to come up with a solution to capitalize on these characteristics.

In addition, these groups read reviews, and are always connected, which is something to bear in mind, she said. They want to spend money wisely and try to get as much information as they can before purchasing a product.

It is up to the industry to target their audience carefully and adapt to it. “Young consumers are keen to trying new things, we need to be inspiring,” Middleton said.

In this sense, Claire Nuttal, from the Brand Incubator, during a separate presentation on inspiring innovation in the seafood industry, encouraged companies to get involved, and not just let marketing firms run their campaigns.

“It’s not the right thing to do,” she said.

Target those foodies

But beyond young consumers, Ollie Lloyd, CEO at the Great British Chefs and former marketing director of giant Unilever, highlighted the importance of “committed foodies” for the seafood industry, and not only in London, but across the country.

Lloyd collaborates with the NSC in promoting Norway’s seafood in the United Kingdom.

A recent study, which has yet to be released, suggests 7.7 million people in the United Kingdom strongly agree with five of the 10 statements listed by researchers as foodie characteristics.

And this is a segment worth investing in.

“Foodies cook and eat fish, and quality and provenance matter to them , they are open to relevant new things,” he said.

One way of appealing to these consumers is innovating and looking beyond British dishes. The international influence in the UK culinary scene is increasingly changing the perception of British food, and it should be implemented in the way fish is sold and marketed.

Transparency, sustainability, traceablity and story-telling are factors driving consumers in this spectrum, 27 percent of the committed foodies regularly shop in the fishmonger, despite shopping the rest of their ingredients in retailers such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

Committed foodies cook almost double the fish protein than the national average.

Across the country, these are the trends for fish cooking:

Sea bass: 42 percent of committed foodies cook it against 23 percent in the national average.
Mackerel: 40 percent of committed foodies cook it against 23 percent in the national average.
Cod: 70 percent of committed foodies cook it against 60 percent in the national average.
Haddock: 55 percent of committed foodies cook it against 40 percent in the national average.
Salmon: 69 percent of committed foodies cook it against 53 percent in the national average.
Crab: 24 percent of committed foodies cook it against 10 percent in the national average.
Monkfish: 15 percent of committed foodies cook it against 6 percent in the national average.
Scallop: 28 percent of committed foodies cook it against 12 percent in the national average.

However, there are opportunities beyond the foodie segment too.

Nine percent of the UK population never eat fish, but 34 percent of the people in the country are actively trying to reduce their meat intake. Only 55 percent eat fish regularly.

Marketplace

Where's the biggest growth potential for fish, seafood in the UK?