Globally aquaculture products constitute the dominant share of seafood consumed and will continue to play an increasingly important role in world food supplies. Despite the global importance of fisheries and aquaculture production (214Mt in 2020, FAO, 2022) most seafood products reach their markets as an undifferentiated commodity. One significant consequence of this is the loss of potential value achievable through product differentiation. The increasing market share of aquaculture products heightens the importance of identifying how value currently foregone through non-differentiation might be recouped.
This paper draws upon a number of research projects concerned with alternative marketing strategies to differentiate seafood products in Europe and SE Asia. It appraises various ways in which products can be differentiated and reports on how buyers, both B2B and B2C, evaluate the alternatives. Market responses vary and will do so over time under changing socioeconomic circumstances. If aquaculture value chains are to succeed in proactive responses to evolving markets they must, at least, be alert to options for revenue growth.
Differentiation aims to create some combination of those Unique Selling Points (USPs) identified as important determinants of demand. USPs may enable differentiated products to attain, inter alia, brand identity, customer loyalty and a willingness to pay some price premium. Differentiation may be achieved using a range of different attributes whose relative importance will evolve. Potential intrinsic and extrinsic attributes including quality, size, freshness, texture, fat content, provenance, capture mode, organic status, ecolabelling, branding, packaging and others may be used to promote differentiation.
However, as the commodity-centric tendency evidences, some disincentives to differentiation also exist. Not least is cost and consequent reduction in profitability: the antithesis of differentiation. Limitations of market size; delivery costs of highly specific USPs; changing customer preferences and the need to create and maintain market research can hinder adoption. Some differentiation strategies, including new products developed, may be readily copied by follower competitors and discourage leadership in differentiation.
The paper concludes that the greater controls available in aquaculture value chains should provide more amenity to differentiation when compared with those that are capture based. Appraisal of the scope for differentiation to improve the utilization of seafood resources suggests there may be many more shades in blue transformation.