Online purchasing has become more and more popular around the world, and due to the Covid-19 pandemic that popularity grew exponentially. This is especially true for Hong Kong and Macau as more and more online shops have been opening. In 2020, a survey was conducted amongst consumers in Hong Kong. The survey revealed that consumers often choose online purchasing platforms due to the wide product selection. Consumers also felt that promotions and vouchers are essential when selecting websites to purchase from.
From May 1st to May 31st, 2022, Food Export-Northeast partnered with Worldwide Seafood Limited to launch a promotion featuring American Lobster and Atlantic Sea Scallops. Worldwide Seafood Limited is Hong Kong’s largest online seafood purchasing website. They operate in Mainland China, Hong Kong/Macau, Canada, and the United States. Worldwide Seafood Limited provides high-quality seafood products to major hotels, private clubs, casinos, restaurants, and cruises.
The online promotion activities included digital ad banners on Worldwide Seafood Limited's website and the distribution of recipe books to those who made purchases on their website. It also included social media posts on Facebook and Instagram, which resulted in more than 230,244 impressions. Promotional activities had media support that consisted of posts from food influencers on Instagram and short articles posted on AM730’S E-NEWS channel and Facebook. The two Instagram posts had over a total of 53,000 impressions and both the AM730 E-News articles received a total of 200,000 impressions.
Overall, the promotion was successful with over $230,903 worth of American Lobster and Atlantic Sea Scallop being sold. During the promotion, 2,550kg of American Lobster was sold with a value of $162,258 and 1,400kg of Atlantic Sea Scallop was worth $68,645. Worldwide Seafood Limited expressed their interest in working with Food Export Northeast Seafood Program in the future.
Food Export USA-Northeast is a private, non-profit association of northeastern state agricultural promotion agencies that use federal, state, and industry resources to promote northeastern food, fishery, and agricultural products worldwide. Helping small and medium-sized seafood businesses diversify and expand their sales into new markets creates jobs and strengthens coastal economies. Food Export-Northeast administers many services through Market Access Program (MAP) funding from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.
Food Export uses funding from the Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) Program and the Market Access Program (MAP) to help America’s small businesses increase their exports of food and agricultural products. As these exports increase, these small businesses are creating jobs and improving the strength and stability of our agricultural economy. Food Export - Midwest and Food Export - Northeast are non-profit organizations that work in collaboration with their member state departments of agriculture and the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. They offer a wide range of programs and services that help boost America’s agricultural exports.
