Marketing For The Fish

[NickAu]

I do understand,

 
The main reason I'll never even consider going saltwater is I just plain can't afford it

Having a pet is not cheap, If I wanted to get a salt water tank I would get one regardless of cost. I would save up money re search salt water buy bits I needed from ebay or amazon over a few months but I would have one.
 
Not long ago I needed fish food for my Betta, I went into LFS and paid $22.90 for a 50 gramme ( 2.1 ounces ) jar of New Life Spectrum pellets, Because I was short  on cash and I needed coffee also I went without coffee for a week. I once ordered food online and it was almost 9 months out of date.

 

[Jeremy180]

I do understand,

 
The main reason I'll never even consider going saltwater is I just plain can't afford it

Having a pet is not cheap, If I wanted to get a salt water tank I would get one regardless of cost. I would save up money re search salt water buy bits I needed from ebay or amazon over a few months but I would have one.

You pretty much just described how I'm  doing my next (fresh water) tank, except replace months with years.
I aslo had to do it this way to a lesser degree for my current tank.

 

[NickAu]

If you are planing a planted tank buy 1 small plant and take cuttings from it, I did this with some of my plants, Just dump a bit of gravel in a plastic tub and stick the cuttings into the gravel in no time you will have a plant ( Please not this cant be done with all plants ).

 

[Jeremy180]

Like most chain stores and some LFS, like my job, we have brief descriptions of the species such as the scientific name, temperature requirements, max size, behaviour and occasionally tank size requirements. I believe all shops selling fish or aquatic species should follow this going the extra mile of mentioning pH, diet requirements, origins, etc.
They could also have the common compatibility charts, it wouldn't be difficult to research and make a few of these charts to hang up around the store.
That why, customers won't return to the store complaining about their new fish killing their current fish. Unless that was the idea to get them to come back....
But what I'm saying is fish shops should have more facts stated around the store, or like most chain stores, pamphlets to be taken.

This kind of thing is exactly what I mean.
At the very least make sure the customer doesn't assume that a fish is a "just add water" pet
 

This next idea might be a little on the expensive side, but I think instead of selling the fish in bags only, it would be nice providing little boxes just big enough to fit the bags in. That way the ride home for the fish can be less stressful and the bag is better protected from popping. I tend to do this for every new fish I purchase, I always bring a little box, lined with a soft, thin rag. In fact, my store sometimes will provide a box for customers purchasing a lot of fish.

Indeed, I think the best type of containers would be one of those cheap styrofoam coolers for large purchases, and maybe smaller foam boxes for smaller ones, or even a "supersize" foam cup to put single bag purchases in, these would also provide cheap insulation for cold or hot weather as well.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

I will go out on a limb here.
 
I think there should be no marketing strategy EG buy 5 get 1 free or any of that nonsense. I think fish are too cheap and as a result people dont care as much about them, They become disposable, If I had it my way a Guppies would cost $70 each and you would have to buy at least 3, Bettas would cost $100 each and you would have to prove you can house the fish correctly. Doing it this way would reduce if not cut out impulse buying. People would think twice about fish care if they had to lay a $100 bill on the counter for just 1 fish.

I like this idea, although it would probably not work. But the concept of it is brilliant. Raise the price so that more people will look into the species a lot more thoroughly. Make these fish actual gems to keep. People might just go through the extra work and lead to proper care of the species if they've invested a lot of money into it.

 

[NickAu]

If you want a low maintenance pet that you only need to feed,................ Get a de sexed cat and teach it to poop in the garden this way you don’t need kitty litter, Dogs are not low maint because you need to wash them and walk them, Birds need cages cleaned.

 

[Far_King]

 

I will go out on a limb here.
 
I think there should be no marketing strategy EG buy 5 get 1 free or any of that nonsense. I think fish are too cheap and as a result people dont care as much about them, They become disposable, If I had it my way a Guppies would cost $70 each and you would have to buy at least 3, Bettas would cost $100 each and you would have to prove you can house the fish correctly. Doing it this way would reduce if not cut out impulse buying. People would think twice about fish care if they had to lay a $100 bill on the counter for just 1 fish.

While prices like this would cut out impulse buying, it would also cut out a lot of hobbyists, myself included.
The main reason I'll never even consider going saltwater is I just plain can't afford it
 

 
I'm finding that a lot of the high end or rarer fresh water are more expensive than most of the salt water fish now.  I know the initial outlay for saltwater and ongoing maintenance is more expensive, but the fish themselves are becoming a more comparable price in some regards.
 
Back to the overall question being asked, I don't think there's an easy answer unless you're selling the person a tank as well.  When you sell a tank it should perhaps come with a leaflet explaining the stocking options for that tank.  Get a 25 litre and you're not going to be able to keep clown loach in it but I bet you someone has tried it.
The problem with fish keeping is that there's so many pretty fish you want to keep!  This is why many of us have multiple tanks.  We all know that there's differing compatibilities between fish, and that's not just down to how many should be in a shoal.  Someone new to the hobby will most likely not realise this and just want to have one barb, one gourami, a pleco, a red tail shark, a rainbow shark, some tetra and before you know it they're overstocked with fish that will just not work in the same environment.
How many people that are new to the hobby will research exactly what pH the fish they want need?  They probably don't know which pH they have, let alone what will work for the fish.
 
The issue is with lack of information in stores.  If you're lucky you get someone in there who really has a passion for the fish and knows their requirements.  To others it's just a job they may not really like.  If I ran a fish store I'd have details next to every tank of the requirements for the fish.  Temp ranges, pH and keep tanks of fish next to tanks of other compatible fish so it's clearer to people what works with what in any way I could.
 
Truth is different fish shops are run differently in the same county, let alone how differently they're run across the world.  I do think that if a fish needs to be kept in a shoal of six minimum then they should be sold as such.  I see fish priced at £2 , £3.50 for two or say £7 for four - never, ever a price for half a dozen, but as has been mentioned, a price can usually be negotiated.
 
Sadly people will go out and buy a dog without knowing how to look after it, which is why I have three rescues.  I know for a fact the youngest was too much to handle for the people that got a cute puppy.  I think people will just go out and get what they want and not consider the consequences and we see this in our hobby.   All we can do is try to impart some knowledge and help those that have made mistakes so they learn.  I know I've made mistakes and learnt from them, no one is perfect.  
 
I would like to see better education from fish shops and I think better trained staff and leaflets are probably the best way to go about it, I'm not sure changing the marketing is the way to get better end results.  The objective of marketing after all is to increase sales and profitability for a company - this would best be achieved by selling after care products for the fish rather than focusing purely on the fish sales themselves.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

Speaking of the shoaling fish deal that Jermey180 was talking about, LiveAquaria,com has a similar system. If a fish is say $3.89 originally, on the side of the species profile they'll have deal charts, where three of the same fish bought together will be $3.79, and I think every one fish added to the cart, each fish becomes 10 cents cheaper, up to a certain quantity of course. 
 
I think this system is ideal, each fish just makes the rest just a little more cheaper, it edges customers into buying just maybe a couple more fish just to get a few more cents discounted on each fish, instead having a heavy discount to buy a lot more fish than intended to and overstock their tanks.