Quality distribution of fresh fish and retailers’ sales strategies in special wards of Tokyo

Abstract

A sampling of whole horse mackerel and sardine was conducted at randomly selected fresh fish retailers in special wards of Tokyo, and quality was investigated using Fish AnalyzerTM Pro. We then used principal component analysis and cluster analysis in an attempt to develop a typology of retailers’ sales strategies. The quality survey revealed that most of the sampled fish were not suitable for raw consumption and that the range of fat content was particularly large for sardines. Statistical analysis suggested that the strategies of fresh fish retailers could be classified into four categories, indicating the usefulness of using datasets that include quality information to classify retailers’ sales strategies.