The CRC commissioned two previous Omnibus Studies – one collected data in November/December 2009 (n = 2,643) and the second collected data across December 201 and January 2011 (n=3,629). These studies had three keys objects:
1. Measure seafood consumption levels and patterns including consumers' knowledge and preferences for seafood (benchmark and track changes over time).
2. Measure consumer acceptance (in terms of consumers’ willingness to pay, the expected market share, segmentation, and importance of product features) and forecast the demand for a range of innovative seafood products, packaging, and services.
3. Determine the relative impact of different advertising, promotional messages (e.g., health benefits, sustainability and other environmental claims, etc), education programs and the extent those messages would be valued by the consumers.
The CRC has conducted considerable further research since these studies, however this has been targeted to specific species (eg barramundi, prawns etc) with no further tracking over time of seafood consumption levels and patterns including consumers' knowledge and preferences for seafood. Given the work of the CRC in several species since the last Omnibus a final study addressing objectives one specifically would allow changes over time to be measured. In addition the final Omnibus could include questions addressing issues that have arisen through the further studies conducted by the CRC that remain unanswered including:
1. The role and impact of childhood habits on seafood consumption
2. Gender differences in purchasing and preparing seafood
3. The role of health/dieting on the Monday consumption pattern
4. The role of social media in seafood consumption
5. Consumer understanding and impact of sustainability
6. Underutilised species
7. The impact of provenance and traceability.
These issues are in line with the final recommendations from the previous two omnibus studies.
Final report
The purpose of this project was twofold – firstly, to identify changes in consumers’ attitudes and behaviours over the past 5 years, and secondly, to further explore key issues impacting continued consumer trends. This study is the third Omnibus Consumer Research project carried out by the CRC and follows the 2009 and 2011 studies conducted by the Ehrenberg Bass Institute. The 2015 Omnibus comprised a national online survey conducted in April 2015 and was completed by 2,538 consumers over the age of 18. Respondents broadly matched the Australian population in terms of state location and age. Criteria for inclusion were the same across all three Omnibus studies. A major difference between the studies was timing. The 2009 Omnibus was conducted in December in the lead up to Christmas in 2009 and the second omnibus was conducted over December and January 2011, so again a key holiday period. The 2015 Omnibus specifically targeted a non-holiday period of March 2015. Many of the differences in results between the three studies can be at least partially attributed to this difference in timing. The 2015 Omnibus comprised two major sections: the first section monitored similar issues to the previous two Omnibus studies and so allowed the identification of trends, while the second part of the Omnibus explored new areas.
Keywords: seafood consumption, seafood marketing, omnibus, sustainability
