Register to continue reading for free
COVID-19 will impact the way the footwear supply chain is organised
The World Footwear' experts panel, gathering specialists from all over the world, believes that the Covid-19 crisis will result in a re-thinking of the supply chain and the way it is organized
During the month of March, we have conducted the second edition of the World Footwear Business Conditions Survey and have questioned the panel members on Covid-19 likely impact on firms’ medium-term decisions regarding the location of footwear production.
Less than one in five of our experts believes the epidemic will have no impact on the location of footwear production (unchanging the supply chain). Others split almost equally between the option that firms will prefer to disperse production by different countries (diversifying the supply chain) to minimize the risk of disruption in their supply chains, and the possibility that firms will prefer to locate production close to the consumer markets (shortening the supply chain).
North American respondents are the least inclined to believe that things will remain unchanged, among the three continents – Asia, Europe, and North America - that dominate international footwear trade. Most respondents from North America believe that firms will prefer to keep production closer to consumer markets. On the contrary, in Asia, almost one in four of those interviewed trusts that companies will not alter their production location decisions.
Impact on Consumption
When questioned specifically about the impact of the epidemic on consumption, as compared to a no-epidemic scenario, our panel members, on average, are forecasting a 22.5% reduction >> Read all about it HERE
About the Business Conditions Survey
In 2019 the World Footwear has created the World Footwear' experts panel and is now conducting a Business Conditions Survey every semester.The objective of the World Footwear Experts Panel Survey is to collect information regarding the current business conditions within the worldwide footwear markets and then to redistribute such information in a way it will provide an accurate overview of the situation of the global footwear industry.
The second edition of this online survey was conducted during the month of March 2020. We have obtained 129 valid answers, 41% coming from Europe, 31% from Asia, 16% from North America and the remainder from other continents. Almost 40% of the respondents are involved in footwear manufacturing (manufacturers), 17% in footwear trade and distribution (traders) and 43% in other footwear-related activities such as trade associations, consultancy, journalism, etc. (others).
