FrozenFoodAge.com |

Retailers are starting to look at frozen seafood in a different light. Once grouped with other frozen foods, this product category is now frequently showcased in a special stand-alone display.

According to Joe D'Alessandro, senior director of seafood merchandising, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), Montvale, N.J., frozen seafood now represents 60% of its seafood sales, with a growth rate of 6%. As such, A&P wanted to create a strategy to expand the frozen seafood section into an actual store destination. Ideally, that display would be located in proximity to the fresh seafood counter. However, that ideal is not always possible. For example, in A&P's Food Emporium stores located in Manhattan, space is at a premium. Therefore, for those stores the frozen seafood may be featured in a separate standalone case, but its location varies dictated by available space.

As it began to explore this strategy, A&P realized that its store banners (A&P, Food Emporium, Pathmark, Waldbaum's) are rather diverse and a cookie-cutter plan would not work for all of them. Consequently, the company dedicated an employee to study the individual stores and develop a planogram for each banner. As a result of the study, it decided on individual displays in a five-door set, ranging from 6 feet to 20 feet, depending on the store layout. These stand-alone cases usually feature raw and cooked shrimp offerings--juxtaposed to bulk family packs (3-5 lb. bags) of fish fillets, as well as a variety of other products. Wherever possible, the displays are located across or next to the fresh seafood counter.

"The most effective way to market frozen seafood is in a stand-alone display," says Emily Lane, sales and marketing manager, Portland Processing Llc., South Portland, Maine, which markets Claw Island frozen lobster. "In the frozen grocery section, frozen fish gets lost with the other frozen food items. The public's perception is that this is just another frozen food, not that it is a frozen premium fish product."

"Specialty seafood can get lost in the frozen grocery section," agrees Andree Gernhauser, director of sales and marketing, Carnival Brands, New Orleans. However, she feels coffin cases are more effective than upright displays.

On the other hand, Anne North, director of retail marketing, Phillips Foods, Baltimore, offers a different perspective. "I can understand why a retailer would like to have certain frozen seafood items placed near the seafood counter to capture the majority of consumers most interested in buying seafood," she said. "However, many seafood manufacturers have pushed to have their products in frozen grocery because the traffic is higher and they are more likely to be noticed and purchased on impulse or trial." She also noted that with stand-alone displays the retailer might be missing the opportunity to "upsell" higher end seafood items.

"Obviously, the ideal situation would be dual placement of our product in both the frozen food aisle and the separate frozen seafood section," says Jaap Langenberg, CEO, Blue Horizon Organic Seafood, Aptos, Calif. "However, we are happy where the retailer feels is the best place." Blue Horizon manufacturers shrimp appetizers, skillet meals and both shrimp and veggie spring rolls.

If the seafood is showcased in a separate stand-alone display, the challenge becomes how to develop stand-alone displays into a customer destination. If left to happenstance, potential customers might be missed, if they don't walk near or through the display's location. In addition, there is often customer confusion as to where frozen seafood is located, particularly if the seafood offerings in a store are split between a special display and frozen grocery. In-store merchandising is one method used to drive traffic to stand-alone displays. Manufacturers such as Blue Horizon offer multiple varieties of in-store promotional tools, which include point-of-purchase displays, danglers for the store aisle, and consumer informational brochures. Carnival Brands advocates in-store demonstrations to catch people's interest. Ads in weekly circulars also help draw customers to the special seafood section.

So the debate continues as to the best way to display frozen seafood. Manufacturers do not have hard data supporting either argument, but a keen perception based on actual conversations with customers. On the other hand, retailers see significant sales and growth in frozen seafood and attribute much of that success to the specialized displays.