The Marketing Problem Of Rock Lobster

Australia and China are two countries located in the southern and northern hemispheres respectively. They are both very important and major international exporters across the globe. Australian exports reached an all time high of A$29,970 million in February of 2014, this is a gain of A$120 million from the previous year. Australia’s natural resources are one of its main exports as Australia is so rich in its natural resources such as bauxite, coal, copper, tin, gold, iron ore, silver, uranium, tungsten, nickel, lead, zinc, diamonds, mineral sands, natural gas and petroleum.

New England Seafood Company is a leader in the northeastern United States in harvesting and processing seafood. The company’s senior executives believe that there must be a change in the corporate strategy to maintain their competitive advantage, as foreign producers are affecting their current yields. Currently, New England Seafood Company operates in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico dealing exclusively in saltwater fish. Management feels that a move into the freshwater fish sector will provide the company with a new directive and future stability.

However this is very unfortunate for local fisherman because the over abundance of lobsters is hurting their job opportunities due to cheap prices per pound. In 2012 the Maine lobster industry set a record of their biggest year for lobster fishing at 126 million pounds of lobster caught. This lowered the boat price to just $3.72 per pound. For comparison in recent years lobsters has sold for more that $14 dollars a pound. This is the lowest price since the Great Depression. Even with the abundance of Maine Lobsters there are still regulations. You are not allowed to keep a lobster if it is pregnant or bigger 3-1/4 inches in length.

Kudler Fine Foods is a gourmet food store which also offers in store parties in order to introduce customers to their products and also teach customers how to prepare their specialty foods. They have expanded to three stores and are continuing to see growth opportunities in their industry. Kudler Fine Foods has planned on contracting with local growers to obtain their produce and now they want to add a catering service. Before they can do so, they must run the possibility fully through a marketing standpoint in order to assure the success of this project. This study will comprise of the opportunities Kudler Fine Food has in its marketing mix that will help them operate a successful catering business.

Since Red Lobster offers good quality seafood, the consumer promotion will be through direct mail informing them of our promotion going on in house. Each month, birthday gift cards will be sent out to our subscribers "Fresh Catch Club", who provided us with information about their birthday and other general information. The gift card will have a special offer of 10% o of their purchase online or at any Red Lobster with in your area. This method will be very effective because it will show the consumer that we care about them. This will also invite the consumer to visit their webpage or enjoy a dine-in experience where their brand can be appreciated with a full customer service experience and the delicious new dishes offered.

Some challenges Red Lobster is faced with is Lack of unit magnification. Red Lobster has more than 700 restaurants nationwide With traffic declining, Red Lobster will have to fixate on fortifying the core business before it can expand. Another challenge is Declining margins, Red Lobster's profit margin is the worst in years because of declining traffic and higher operating costs, Red Lobster's margins are significantly lower than competitors like Buffalo Wild Wings and Cheesecake Factory. And Lastly Commodity prices. Shrimp prices have dramatically increased to unprecedented rates because of production issues overseas. Prices for white shrimp, one of Red Lobster's core menu items, soared 50%. While the prices are expected to ease up soon, Red

The Caribbean Spiny Lobster, a uniquely adorned decapod, is found in subtropical to tropical waters, inhabiting rocky crags to sponges to sea grass. A carnivorous species, they will feed on gastropods, sea urchins, worms, and crustaceans. In addition to this, they are also important aquatic scavengers, aiding in the process of decomposition of dead organisms that fall to the ocean floor (Kanciruk 1980). Commonly fed on by moray eels and nurse sharks, they play a significant role in the food chain for not only marine species, but for humans as well. According to the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, this is one of the most important Palinurid species that is harvested in American waters due to high demand (Holthuis 1991). The economic

A report published by the United States White House disclosed that the shutdown “cost fisherman thousands of dollars of lost revenue per day” because of the delayed season. Mason attested to the claim, stating the industry “risks losing a significant marketplace,” namely Japan, where it is “ highly prized for holiday celebrations,” if the catching period is postponed even further., The inability to issue permits for fishermen begs the question : to what extent, did the furloughed federal workers of the government shutdown in 2013 affect the Alaskan king crab

In Maine the lobsters that have been caught are at a record high of 56.7 million pounds and no one knows why. Some people think it is because of conservation the lobster fishermen throw the pregnant femals and undersized ones back. Oversized lobsters are also thrown back because they can reproduce fast from how attractive they are. Lobster traps have been designed to let the baby lobsters get out. Also lobster fishermen try to keep outsiders from fishing for them so the numbers can also stay high.

The food processors responsible for packaging lobsters for export earn a lot of many and use it to build sport-dive resort with diving facilities yet they do not give back to the divers working in for their industry. They process products obtained by Mosquito Coast divers and without those divers they may have to look for the alternative source of products or close down their operations. They have the interest and right stake (Weiss

The Vietnamese and Chinese shrimp’s "dumping" affect the U.S. seafood market in many. According to economists "dumping" is the fact of selling certain goods or services at a price below its real price, otherwise, below the market price or below its cost of production. In this case shrimps imported from Vietnam and China, because of the dumping policy, is cheap compare to shrimps produced in US. The result is The USA homemade shrimp will not be demanded/bought because of its high price. Referring to the law of demand, when a product is sold at higher price, its demand will decrease. Besides, if the USA homemade shrimp is not sold, that fact will threaten many jobs, firms and businesses, increasing by the same time the unemployment rate. Finally the U.S. seafood market will be highly (100%) dependent to importation.

Delgado, C. L., Wada, N., Rosegrant, M. W., Meijer, S., & Ahmed, M. (2003). Fish to 2020: supply and demand in changing global markets. Retrieved from http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/pubs/pubs/books/fish2020/oc44.pdf

A. Executive Summary: Neptune Gourmet Seafood is currently struggling with what appears to be a temporary problem of excess inventory. A combination of new coastline regulations and an investment in new fishing vessel technology and freezer trawlers has increased their average catch size while demand in the current segment has not grown as quickly. The Neptune management team is faced with a decision of how to clear out its excess inventory that is not moving fast enough under its Neptune Gold branding. My recommendation is to launch a mass-market product under a different product line in order to monetize excess inventory and position Neptune to capture more of the North American seafood market share. Going forward

Many breeds of fish are being captured at a faster rate than they can reproduce. Some species such as orange roughy fishing became popular in New Zealand in the 1970’s. Over time, it spread to many countries around the world. In the last 20 years, there has been a decline in catch up to 75%. It is no longer common to see in grocery stores as well as restaurants. The amounts of fish that are captured and distributed around the world are alarming opposed to the rate the fish can multiply.

Walmart has a large retail seafood business and it is always a challenge to reduce cost and promote sustainability. With upward trend for the demand of sea-food, depletion of the seafood supply is inevitable unless Walmart have a deep engagement of their supply chain. One strategy that Walmart wants to promote to their suppliers is for all of them to take up the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification program. This process will be time consuming, expensive and complex. The depletion of some fish poses a threat to Walmart and its seafood supply chain.