Exploring Point of Sale Strategies for Improving Seafood Retailing: The Case of the Australian Oyster Industry

The commodification of many food products, combined with increasing market share of supermarkets, has increased the importance of point of sale (POS) strategies in specialty food retailers such as fishmongers. This study seeks to develop strategies to improve the retailing of seafood in fishmongers, specifically oysters, an underutilized species; although they are eaten by many consumers, purchase frequency is low. A literature review identifies the key drivers and barriers to oyster consumption and the information consumers want at POS. Based on these findings, a retailing strategy is developed and tested in two consumer focus groups with results informing revisions to the recommended retail strategy, importantly including a change in collateral from a production focus to a consumption focus. This study contributes to theory and practice by bringing together the existing literature on drivers and barriers and consumer information requirements about oysters to develop and to test practical retail strategy concepts.