SCOTTISH SEA FARMS SALES TEAM VISIT CHINA TO BUILD MARKET SHARE

Scottish Sea Farms sales team visit China to build market share. Trip to China and Taiwan is already paying dividends, with a significant increase in orders from the customers visited.

Georgie MacKenzie and James Grant were the first from the sales team to travel to China since Head of Markets Celine Kimpflin’s initial foray in 2014, when the market was just opening
up. Celine returned in 2018 to further develop relationships and explore new opportunities.

They found the experience insightful and rewarding, in terms of building relationships and strengthening ties with loyal customers, as well as identifying areas for improvement.

“They really appreciated that we had taken the time to go and visit them and took a lot of time out of their day to spend with us,” said Georgie. “It was a great opportunity to have proper long discussions, particularly with customers we’ve had long-standing relationships with. At the seafood expos, where we usually meet, you get maybe half an hour to spend with people.

“Scottish Sea Farms had a significant share of Chinese exports last year, about 45 per cent of everything from Scotland, but although sales sector-wide to China and Taiwan have seen big growth in the past year, we still have a small share of the market compared to Norway, Chile, Australia, and Canada.”

The team visited wet fish markets, retail outlets and restaurants, and met customers supplied by Scottish Sea Farms customers.

“We saw where our fish went and what happens to it, from customs to transporting it to market,” said James. “And then what happens when our fish arrive at the market and how they deal with it and sell it.

“Our focus has tended to be on a few long-term customers but as we branch out, we feel we need to promote our brand more, on boxes and in the markets. We are competing with the likes of the
Norwegian Seafood Council and there is Norwegian branding everywhere – even the small retail units in the fish market have Norwegian bunting.”

Since Covid, there has been a shift in the way people are buying, with a lot of small importers making the market very competitive.

“TikTok has also taken the market by storm,” said James. “New companies have appeared and they don’t have a warehouse or processing plant, they just have their platform online and they cut up a salmon live on TikTok, people order it and it will be with them within 30 minutes to an hour.

“These new suppliers have virtually no overheads. They can buy and sell within a very small margin and still make money, whereas the people we’re selling a lot to in the markets are taking volume but they are struggling to compete against the new players.”

The sales team will now use the findings from the trip to review the China sales strategy, and a second visit to the region is planned for the autumn.

“There is no lack of demand and potentially it’s a huge market for us to continue developing,” said Georgie.