Private-label seafood sales rise

As Americans look for ways to save money, overall sales of private-label seafood products are up slightly overall.
 
And sales of certain private-label seafood products increased dramatically at U.S. retail outlets over the past year. Some of the biggest gainers were shelf-stable tuna, up 26 percent; canned shrimp, up 29.9 percent; and unbreaded frozen fish, up 10.8 percent. That's according to The Nielsen Co., which tracked seafood sales in food, drug and mass merchandiser stores, including Wal-Mart, for the 52 weeks ending 21 March 2009.
 
Other big gainers in private-label seafood were seafood sauces, up 7.1 percent; breaded fish, up 4.7 percent; anchovies, up 3.7 percent; other unbreaded seafood items, up 6.3 percent. Private label's share in the seafood sauces category gained 1.2 dollar share points to USD 20.5 million (EUR 15.5 million).
 
"Retailers are more aggressively marketing and merchandising their own brands. Consumers, because of a concern for the recession, are going and buying them," said Brian Sharoff, president of the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA).
 
While overall private-label sales of refrigerated and frozen seafood products dropped 5.2 percent for the 52 weeks ending 21 March, the category gained 0.1 dollar sales share points over the previous year, and saw an increase of 1.3 percent in equalized unit volume share over the past year.
 
However, one notable loss in private label seafood sales was a whopping 99.6 percent drop in sales of two-food frozen seafood entrées, which include a main seafood entrée and a separate side dish that can be combined to make a meal.
 
The other unbreaded seafood items category, which does not include shrimp, tuna, anchovies, salmon and sardines, also dropped a whopping 42 percent to USD 2.5 million (EUR 1.9 million) in sales for the 52 weeks ending 21 March.

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