The embattled fresh fish counter is facing another test of its resilience in the UK market as new lockdowns curb foot traffic and shift consumer purchasing toward delivery and store pick-ups.
Despite a majority of UK retailers deciding to shutdown fresh fish counters in the first coronavirus lockdown last spring, some opted to keep counters operational. However, as a new wave of the pandemic grips the country, the future of what was once the centerpiece of a store's seafood sales looks vulnerable.
"Some retailers have already made the decision to remove seafood counters from store. At the current rate of change it is likely that others may soon follow," Seafish Market Analyst Richard Watson told IntraFish.
The latest shock to the future of fresh fish counters came earlier this month when Sainsbury's permanently closed its seafood counters after reporting a £137 million ($179 million/€51 million) loss in its half year results.
However, regardless of the coronavirus, fresh fish counters have seen a long-term decline over the past decade.
"The percentage of pre-packaged seafood continues to grow strongly as it has done in previous years, with shoppers reporting being intimidated by having to ask the fishmonger, but mainly wanting to be in and out of store as quickly as possible," Watson said.
In June, 97 percent of seafood was sold in a pre-packaged form rather than from a fish counter, up 2 percent year-on-year.
"This puts more emphasis on the need to provide pre-pack products which meet shopper requirements around freshness, minimizing handling or preparation and ease of cook," Watson said.
UK discount retailer Asda made the decision to replace fresh fish and meat counters with "food for now" formats permanently in January to compete with conventional in-store supermarket counters. Asda implemented the new strategy in February, even before the first lockdown in the United Kingdom.
Not everyone has given up. Several retailers closed their fresh fish counters down during the first wave of the pandemic in March, but have since reopened them. Some such as Waitrose, held firm to the importance of the format, even at the height of the first lockdowns.
Waitrose, Morrisons and Tesco told IntraFish they plan on keeping fresh fish counters open during the current nationwide lockdown.
Even with the shift in fresh fish counters, retail seafood sales in the United Kingdom surpassed £4 billion (€4.4 billion/$5.2 billion) for the first time ever, boosted specifically by the frozen and shelf-stable categories.
Fresh fish sales remained fairly flat at £2.4 billion (€2.7 billion/$3.1 billion) in the 52 weeks ending July 11, up just 1.7 percent compared with a year ago, but the frozen and shelf-stable categories saw sales balloon in the past year, a likely consequence of the global coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.
