Good to go:Seafood carves a niche in prepared-meals trend

摘要

Supermarket sales of prepared foods have risen significantly in the past few years, yet many stores lack a variety of customized, portable seafood options. Grocery stores and fish markets can play to consumers' growing desire for ethnic flavors, customized retail meals and individual portions to boost ready-to-eat seafood sales.Since the recession, some retailers have been wary about featuring prepared seafood meals because they are typically priced higher than meals with other meats. However, experts say itmakes sense to play up seafood's premium positioning."Sometimes, accentuating the quality of a premium offering, while also highlighting its restaurant-like resemblance, could prove to be a profitable strategy that retailers could follow to better compete with restaurant dishes," says John Frank, categorymanager, consumer packaged goods-food and drink, for research firm Mintel.