salmontroll
2009-01-23 20:02:52
What can be done to streamline SPC shipping costs on direct internet orders?...This can't be serious... look at this checkout for 3lbs of coho, would you buy it?
Please review your cart and shipping information, and enter your payment information.
Product: Quantity: Price: Line Total:
Troll Coho Salmon Portions 1 $33.00 $33.00
Total: $33.00
Shipping: $40.00
Total: $73.00
Carol W
2009-01-25 18:46:56
Ok let me see if I can make a legitimate reply to this post. We had staff look at direct marketing through the internet a few years ago, the issues we ran into were;
1) We are selling all our inventory at good prices.
a) as a matter of fact we have in the last few years turn customers away because we didn't have fish to sell.
2) upon looking into selling fish on the internet we came to the conclusion that we don't have expertise in staff to do a reputable job of selling online
a) we would need a webmaster to continuously update the webpage
b) we would need a shipping dept.
c) when you consider we are currently having trouble filling our present customer needs and the cost of adding staff we could not sell fish at a high enough price to pay for the additions to staff and give a good return to our members.
3) so the conclusion of the board was it would be better if somebody who already specializes in internet sales bought our fish and sold them and SPC concentrate on the business we are good at.
Salty
2009-01-26 04:18:30
Tom,
I just returned from DC and Boston where I had the chance to meet and visit with people connected with some of the top of the line restaurants and seafood distributors around the world. What some of them want is to know the individual fisherman they are buying from. They are buying products from individual farmers, fishermen, and aquaculturists around the world. Whether it is a bottle of wine, a piece of fish, or a fine salad they want to know the individual who is producing it.
I hear you about the co-operative choosing not to diversify into these niche markets. What can us individual fishermen who are co-operative members do to work with the co-op to facilitate custom processing and shipping to these markets? It seems like a win win for both the fishermen and SPC.
One of the highly successful chef/restaurant owner I talked with wanted salmon that he knew died less than three days before they arrived in his establishment. He was willing to pay more for those salmon. On my boat I could separate those salmon. I would love to have some way to deliver them to the co-op, pay the co-op for their handling and shipping, accommodate the buyer and get paid a little more for them.
Another chef/seafood distributor wanted certified sustainable wild troll caught salmon from individual fishermen who had a documented history of supporting conservation and sustainability. He was not interested in buying from a large processor or even from the co-op. He buys his organic farmed salmon from specific farms he has personally inspected.
I don't know if this is the wave of the future or just a fad but the organic division of one of the food distributors I visited with is the fastest growing division of their company. Organic farming is sweeping Europe according to this source.
My son and all four of my fishing group partners in their 30's have bought freezer trollers in the last three years in part to start taking advantage of these niche markets. I don't want to buy a new boat and learn how to freeze salmon at this stage of my life, but I would like to facilitate getting my high quality troll salmon to buyers who want them. I don't really know how to make the co-op work to help take advantage of these specialty markets but I suspect it would be a good idea for SPC and me if we could figure it out.
I share these ideas publicly instead of privately because I think it is important for all of us in this troll business to be sharing what we know about what is happening so there are enough of us informed enough to make a difference.
What do you think?
salmontroll
2009-01-26 22:15:50
Ok,
1. What does a good webmaster cost? 80-100k p/year
2. Could this be run out of Bellingham?
3. How much staff would be needed to start?
4. Have any numbers been run on this to verify that this is not viable?
5. The increase in profit to the fisherman could be enormous.
I remember it took years to convince co op leadership to venture into vaccum packed fillets . I'd estimate they are now one of SPC's most successfull products. Its logical that bypassing segments of the supply chain would increase profits to the fisherman, and reduce price to the consumer. SPC should take advantage of this opportunity. I'm sure that many other individuals and businesses will.
I'd estimate a maximum of $500/month including hardware, network, and labor. If it was 80k/year id be a very rich man. :D
Carol W
2009-01-26 23:10:45
Hi Eric
I hope you enjoyed all the hoopla I can’t imagine being in all those people not a good spot for a self respecting member of the Rice Bag Navy.
Anyway I thought I would try and respond again the board just had a discussion not long ago about high grading off the last couple of days of the trip, as we all know these fish are a totally different critter than the fish caught 5 days ago. As to the customer knowing who, when and where the fish was caught the coop has started down the road and with Becky adding photo’s to the website we are giving our customers an introduction to our membership. There are ways to strengthen our traceability and we are trying to increase our customer exposure to our members by bringing customers to Sitka, and having them go out on boats. It might very well be worth exploring having a member or 2 going on a sales trip or to one of the big seafood shows. Anthony’s last year was running adds featuring different members and list SPC products on their menu, which I thought was very good exposure for the coop and its membership. I believe that we are not far from the customer knowing who, when , and where the fish was caught is the norm for high value fish.
As to custom processing small lots of fish for members to sell a couple problems arise and they are 1st off what happens when a member comes in at the close of Kings and the plant is busy trying to get fish processed as fast as possible. Do we stop processing the fish of other members to accommodate one member, do we tell the member who wants his fish processed that he has to wait until there is space available. The logistical nightmare and potential for heartburn increases if we were to start custom processing small groups of members fish. And another issue would be if members took only the last 2 days of their trips to sell in competition to the coop then the overall quality of the coops pack would diminish. And that would be the other issue is the coop would then at some point be in direct competition with its members.
Unfortunately there are niche markets that the coop can’t necessarily fill however in the last few years we have tried to sell to higher end restaurant chains that feature SPC name on their menu. The European Union has already started asking for traceability and the coop has moved to address this with them and we have more work to do. I would also like to point out that even though we can’t operate in every niche market that there is we do continuously woo and cultivate new customers, last year the sales staff added new customers for every product we produce.
As long as I am on my soap box I might as well say that as a fleet and a membership we are in a unique position in the fishing industry we have a marketing arm that if the troll fleet would support with more pounds that we could very well set the market price. Our plant could very easily process 20 million pounds per year however we predominately process between 11 million and 14 million pounds. If we were to get 90% of our members pounds we would own a majority of the pounds of kings and coho on the market therefore if a customer wanted troll caught kings or coho he or she would have to come to us. Then we could set the price without fear of being undercut. We also would have revenue to expand our plant and possibly open a new processing plant in the southend of S.E. which is something we need. We would also have the revenue to branch out into other areas like a small dept to handle individual orders and small niche areas. From being on the board I see lack of pounds as more an issue than exploring every creative way to market a fish. I guess I fail to see why we as members don’t try to supply our own company with as much pounds as we can, having a 12 member board of directors composed of very hungry fisher folk is a very strong set of checks and balance to oversee that we are getting the most value for our fish.
Checks were to be mailed today for the second advance.
Anyway I have rambled on enough.
Keep your hand on it.
Tom
Carol W
2009-01-26 23:53:55
SalmonTroll
It was a few years ago when we looked at this and I was fairly new to the board so I can’t supply you with all the answers you have asked but I can tell you that I pushed staff pretty hard in this reguard as I had some experience selling on Ebay and new of the potential for profit. And yes I do know how hard and slow it is to get the coop to move in a different direction, but at that time the new CEO had come on and we were reforming our whole marketing focus. And at that time there were limits as to where we could focus our attention in reforming the marketing focus.
Like I said last year our biggest problem wasn’t having markets that paid a good price but rather having the fish to supply these markets. The membership asked that the staff go after the restaurant markets cutting out the middle man and getting more value I think our staff has done a good job of doing this.
When you see your second advance and reflect on where the economy has gone and what your second advance is you will realize the coop is pretty secure in its position in the market. The other thing that should be understood is that the sale staff does an economic analysis of our customers to determine profitability, the importance of this protects us when things become unstable as they are now.
I am not saying that selling online isn’t a good idea rather with the resources we have there are limits as to what we can do. However if members think we should look at this option some more than I urge people to write the Board.
Keep your hand on it
Tom