第十九回 中にいると見えない事
市場流通は「なし崩し的」に機能が変化し、入場業者もより均一的な規格を欲しがり、それに対応する形で各産地漁師も同じような魚種中心で漁獲を行うようになる。
誰しもが右に倣えの状態を彼のような存在が疑問を抱くことに時間は掛からなかった。
以下、今後を読み進めていく上で市場における課題認識を共有しておいた方が理解に良いと思われるので、少しの時間お付き合い頂きたい。
出荷者は中心ユーザー(量販店バイヤー等)が求めるような規格物を中心に荷扱するようになる。
例えば、マアジであれば量販店の陳列台に並びやすく、かつそこに並べるトレーパックに並びやすい規格・・というようにして2重にも3重にも売り手のエゴに囚われていく。
こういった標準化は各魚種で進み、所謂「スーパーってどこに行っても同じ物しか並ばないね」という退屈な売り場構成に成り下がってしまった。
同時に消費者の一円でも安くという姿勢から販売競争も激化。
直接経費(品質や等級)を下げる店もあれば、間接経費(人件費)を圧縮する店もあった。
人件費を魚屋・魚コーナーで圧縮すると、どういうことが起こるだろうか。
今までは魚コーナーに居たおじさんが居なくなる、これまではその人との会話により「奥さん今日は晩御飯にこの旬のイサキがいいよ」「お腹出してあげるから半分刺身に半分焼き物にしたらどう？」といった風にして少し食べ方の想像付きにくい種類でも、それなりの消費が進んだ。
しかし、そういった会話機会やある意味の各家庭に対する「食育」といった場面が失われた事で、「誰もがイメージしやすく、誰もが知っている魚だけ」が365日登場するような売り場になってしまったという訳である。
また、前述通りセリ販売が基本設計の為、御客は待っていても時間には現れる。
長い間、「能動的な営業」という姿勢は存在せず「受動的な営業」のみが行われてきた。
その為、歳を取った人間も若い人間のようなスキルしか保持しておらず(以下悪い表現の方が理解しやすい為、そういった言葉を敢えて選ぶとする)と、「ただ威勢の良いだけのオジサン」もしくは「主体性のない優しいだけのオジサン」を量産してしまったのだ。
確かに売り手市場や成長市場では、上記人材は重宝されるかもしれない。
ただ高度経済成長期を経て、消費は鈍化、様々な物事が尋常でないスピード感で進む時代において、完全に時代から取り残される形になってしまった。
加えて、市場は古典的社内制度の宝庫の為、「年功序列」や「年齢昇給」などが当たり前に鎮座している。
そういったオジサンたちが定年退職までプレイヤーとして現場活動すれば、経営としては幾分正しい方向へ進むのかもしれないが、定期昇格などにより「無駄に管理職」のポジションとなってしまう。
勿論、彼らは経営者的な視点(マネジメント能力及び意識)においては長きに渡り教育を受けておらず、知見や経験もない。
プレイヤーとしては優秀であったかもしれないが、マネージャーとしては優秀ではない。
彼の所属する会社もこれに漏れず、そういった悪社内環境が多発していた。
Episode 19. A thing that can’t be seen from the inside.
1 December. 2020
As I mentioned above, the market distribution changed its function “little by little” and distributors increasingly preferred standard sized fish; according these demands, fishermen in each area started to adapt how they caught fish.
It didn’t take so long for me to have doubts about this situation of everyone following suit in the same direction.
First, I’d like to share awareness of some issues at the fish market, because I think it will help you to understand.
Fishermen mainly started to provide the standard-sized seafood that was demanded by the main customers (retail store buyers).
For example, with horse-mackerel, the buyers prefer a standard size that is easy to set up on a display table stand and pack into a plastic tray. The buyer’s ego made sales two or three times as difficult.
This standardization proceeded for each fish species and it made for a boring sales floor where “no matter where you go, there are only the same products at every grocery store.”
At the same time, consumers want to buy groceries cheap, caring for every dime, and the sales competition was becoming intense.
Some stores decreased direct expenses (quality or grade of grocery products) and some of them reduced indirect expenses (labour cost).
What does reducing labour costs in the fish department involve?
A guy who used to work at the fish department will disappear. Before that, the guy used to recommend to the consumer, “Hi, this seasonal Grunt is good for dinner!”, “I can gut it for you. Why don’t you use one fillet for Sashimi and the other fillet for baking?” Even if it is a kind of fish that is a little hard to imagine how to eat, the guy explains the way to eat it and he can sell it.
However, we lost the opportunity to talk with that guy working at the fish department, and that also meant that some “Dietary Education” to each family from a fish professional was lost, too.
This standardization proceeded for each fish species and it made for a boring sales floor where “no matter where you go, there are only the same products at every grocery store.” And furthermore it made for a sales floor that “no matter where you go, there are only the same popular fish that are easy to imagine how to eat.”
Moreover, as I mentioned before, “auction sales” had been the basic selling style at the fish market, in which the customers were the ones who came to us and decided the price.
We had only been doing “passive sales” for a long time; in other words, we didn’t have the skill to do “active sales”.
I won’t mince words here. As a result of this, senior employees had similar skill to young employees. It made for a lot of old men who were only good at being cheerful or kind.
I’m sure that they would have been useful in a seller’s market or a growing market.
But Japan’s period of high economic growth was behind us; consumers were spending less than before, and as things were changing at an unusual speed, they were completely left behind the times.
In addition, the fish market has a lot of “old fashioned systems”, for example, “promotion by seniority” or “giving annual raises” and those things seemed natural for us.
Having such senior employees work in the Genba as sellers until retirement might have been best for the company, but instead the system of promotion by seniority meant that they became “useless managers”.
Of course, they hadn’t gotten enough education about management for a long time and they didn’t have the knowledge and experience to be good managers.
They were excellent as auctioneers but not as managers.
My previous company also had a lot of bad environments like this.