“The use of ‘quality’ messaging was used to strengthen associations with the perceived natural characteristics and health benefits of seafood consumption in the Chinese market.”
These understandings could support better communication between producer and consumer, as well as improve production and business practices, Mr Malcorps said.
China Fisheries and Seafood Expo, Qingdao October 2019
He continued: “Business-to-business seafood traders often act as choice editors for final consumers. Therefore, it is essential to convey production processes and sustainability issues between traders and the market. An understanding of culture, messaging strategies and interpretation can improve the communication of product characteristics and in turn improve business and production practices, better meeting the expectations of the final consumer.”
Cultural perceptions
The researchers worked with local speakers and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities from the University of Stirling to understand different cultural perceptions around messaging.
Mr Malcorps said: “We ended up excluding the word ‘fresh’ from our research, for example. Chinese consumers value ‘freshness’ and prefer purchasing live or freshly slaughtered fish, whereas North American consumers often prefer more processed products.
“But the Mandarin characters for seafood already contain the word ‘fresh’, so Chinese traders didn’t use the term very often at their exhibitor booths. Comparing the use of the word ‘fresh’ across seafood shows could therefore have skewed the results.”
The researchers collaborated with the University of Edinburgh, Kafrelsheikh University, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Shanghai Ocean University and the University of Massachusetts Boston.
The study was carried out as part of the Green Aquaculture Intensification Project (GAIN), funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme. The paper ‘Global Seafood Trade: Insights in Sustainability Messaging and Claims of the Major Producing and Consuming Regions,’ is published in the journal Sustainability.
