Retail seafood sales ran counter to positive trends in 2024 with drops in both volume and value, but Circana data reveals big opportunities in certain categories for the industry.
During a talk at the Global Seafood Market Conference, Circana Executive Vice President and Protein Practice Leader Chris Dubois presented some of the firm’s latest data, highlighting the difficult year the overall seafood category faced. According to Circana, overall seafood sales were down 2.6 percent by value, and 1.9 percent by volume in 2024.
Those drops were mainly lead by double-digit drops in sales for products like refrigerated and frozen shellfish over the last four years. That, coupled with what DuBois described as “soft” finfish sales, helped pull down the overall seafood category.
“It’s disappointing on that side, but there are many good things happening out there in the marketplace,” he said.
One of the big highlights in the Circana data is the continued growth of convenience as a means of tapping into retail customers.
“One of the big trends we’re seeing over the next few years, is something we call home-centricity,” DuBois said.
In the last few years, an increasing portion of breakfast, lunches, and dinners are being sourced from home. The covid pandemic lead to more people working from home for at least 3 to 4 days a week.
That increase in time at home has also coincided with a drop in people wanting to dine out at restaurants. And according to DuBois, Circana data has found that most of the people that are eating at home want the feeling of a restaurant at home – but also want to keep prep time lower than 30 minutes.
The desire for faster, easier options shows throughout the grocery store as quick-to-cook protein items saw big sales growth. According to the data, ground beef sales are up nearly 10 percent, boneless chicken thigh sales are up 10.4 percent, and pre-cooked rotisserie chicken sales are up 11.9 percent even as whole bird chicken sales are down.
In similar product types, like grab and go lunchmeat versus lunchmeat that is ordered at a counter, sales of the convenient option have increased and those of the less convenient one have dropped.
That trend towards convenience being king is also showing through in seafood.
According to DuBois, deli sushi has continued to be a big winner both for seafood and for the deli department. Within deli entrees, deli sushi has become the top subcategory by total dollars and by total buyers. The category is now worth USD 2.4 billion (EUR 2.3 billion), and sushi’s total buyers has topped 26.8 million in retail.
“If you look inside deli entrees, and you rank them by protein, seafood ranks number 1,” DuBois said.
That high rank is entirely thanks to sushi, as the broader seafood category outside of sushi is worth just USD 83 million (EUR 79 million), far below sushi.
“If you look at sushi … it’s something that’s working. It’s not that everybody has to go make sushi, there’s enough companies doing that,” DuBois said. “But take the idea – here’s a product people can pick up, eat, and go. And they love the flavors and everything put together. The top prepared foods retailers make this work, and they sell an awful lot of sushi.”
Another retail winner showcasing the power of convenience was Alaskan Leader Seafoods’ miso marinated black cod. DuBois called the product out specifically during his presentation, saying it saw enormous growth in 2024.
“This had to be one of the most spectacular things that crossed my eyes, because this doesn’t happen often,” DuBois said of the product. He said it was “selling off the charts” at big retailers – despite it being a relatively unknown species.
“This is not salmon, it’s not shrimp, it’s not pollock, it’s not cod,” DuBois said. “It’s not one of the biggest species. I’m not picking on it, it just means it’s really kind of tough. But Alaskan Leader built out a tremendous product that has really sold.”
According to DuBois what the company got right was capitalizing on convenience by creating a product that can be prepared in less than 15 minutes, that is unusual and elevated, similar to what a consumer might purchase in a restaurant.
“They took the recipe for a restaurant experience, and made it easy. In 15 minutes it’s all there,” DuBois said. “So when I think about what’s working now, this is a great example that took what I would call an obscure species – and I know there’s a lot of people who would probably start a fight on that – but [they have] taken a hard species for a consumer and they’ve sold it.”
The lessons taught by the sushi sector's growth and the popularity of the miso marinated black cod could be applied to other seafood products – and highlight that even for difficult-to-market species if consumers find something convenient they’ll pay out for it.
“When you make it easy for a consumer and make it simple, it really works,” DuBois said. “And guess what, you pull up a lot of young consumers too.”
