New packaging for push into Europe
One of the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group members, Cameron Maclean of Mull, with a rope of cultivated mussels
As part of an overall effort to increase its European sales, the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group (SSMG) has been developing bilingual ‘Scottish’ themed packs. It has even gone so far to produce a pack specifically for a meeting with one of the large Belgian supermarket chains for which it has produced a cooked in-shell mussel in sauce product.
The product weighs 450g, around 50 shells, and can be re-heated in a couple of minutes, according to SSMG. It has a shelf-life of 18 days and will be delivered daily into Europe.
The mussels in sauce are vacuum packed so the new packaging consists of an outer card sleeve. “As the vacuum pack of mussels is bumpy, to add a label or print on the pack is not possible,” says Rob Mitchell, commercial director of SSMG. “The card sleeve is therefore used to market the product with good visuals and a provenance story.”
The SSMG uses a cardboard sleeve for selling similar products in the UK, and had previously resorted to adding labels when attempting to sell these products into Europe. “This has never looked particularly professional,” Rob Mitchell says, “now there are French, German and Italian translations on the back of pack.
“We can now send out a strong message to buyers that we have a brand ready to go with a translated pack. We also worked with our designers to produce a modern looking pack, but that had good strong Scottish connotations. We also added a photo of one of farmers to give further authenticity.”
However, developing a new pack can be an expensive business, so the SSMG sought funding from Seafood Scotland, which then provided money for part of the design work and helped SSMG to progress the project.
“Seafood Scotland’s Value Added Programme (VAP) has helped a number of Scottish seafood companies to develop their business during the past two years,” says Ian Land, business development manager. “Projects have included packaging and labelling design, website development, market and consumer studies, new product development, marketing materials, and support for SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval)/BRC (British Retail Consortium) audits.
“Financial assistance of up to £2000 (including VAT) is available under the VAP. The application process is simple and decisions about funding are made speedily. However, remaining funding is limited, so companies need to apply now to take advantage of this support.”
The Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group is a co-operative of mussel and oyster farms on the west coast of Scotland and Shetland, with a modern processing and distribution facility at Bellshill, Lanarkshire. It represents about 70% of total Scottish mussel production and supplies most of the major UK multiple retailers, as well as the food service sector, with fresh and value-added shellfish.
SSMG also has a small, but growing, export business. “We hope that the new pack will gain new listings in Europe and increase SSMG sales overall, securing jobs and growth for the future,” says Rob Mitchell.
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