2008/740 An examination of buyer behaviour and market structures in a seafood auction context

By Vipul Pare

This thesis examined purchase patterns, regularities and the structure of competition in the Sydney Fish Market (SFM), the biggest seafood auction market in Australia. The auction system is the Dutch auction system whereby the initial price is high, which then descends until purchase. The market was examined using three market metrics and three buyer behavior metrics. Market metrics included sales, price and volume. The results showed that while some species do vary in terms of metrics and show instability (approximately
This thesis is the first academic study that provides a comprehensive marketing perspective to a seafood market that operates using a unique exchange mechanism. It shows the extent to which the regularities that are valid for consumer markets are also valid for a seafood auction market and the extent to which they are not.

This report was embargoed as commercial in confidence until the conclusion of the Seafood CRC and can now be downloaded below