Register to continue reading for free
World Footwear Business Conditions Survey reveals signs of optimism
According to an online survey conducted by the World Footwear in the end of December the industry is optimistic about the footwear business and expect quantities and prices to increase in the next six months
The footwear industry has been facing varied challenges in the international markets and the recent performance of the economy has been disappointing. According to the IMF, growth in 2019 was the lowest since the 2008 crisis. Growth in the European Union, for example, was particularly low (1.5%), to which is added the modest performance of the North American economy and in some emerging markets around the world.
Businesspeople and entrepreneurs face several questions about the near future and despite some relief in the US-China trade conflict, the outlook for 2020 remains highly uncertain.
Even so, in the online survey conducted by the World Footwear in the end of December revealed that the interviewees are optimistic about the footwear business and expect quantities and prices to increase in the next six months. The expectations vary according to the continent under consideration, with North America and Africa being more optimistic about prices and South America and Asia expressing more positive expectations regarding the evolution of the quantity of footwear sold in their home market.
According to the participants’ views, sneakers and sports footwear will continue to gain market share at the expenses of classic footwear. This is something strongly expressed by most of the respondents in Asia.
Regarding the retail channels, brick-and-mortar shops are quickly losing ground to online channels, with traders being more pessimist about the evolution of large retails stores share, while manufacturers expect them to grow.
In this edition, we also asked our panel of experts their opinion about Sustainability and consumer’s preferences for products with low environmental impact. The majority of respondents (56%) believe that consumers prefer shoes with less negative environmental impact but only if that does not result in higher prices.
To get access to the full content of the first issue of the World Footwear Busines Conditions Survey click below:
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 global footwear industry.
The first edition of this online survey was conducted during the month of December 2019 and 183 valid answers were obtained, with 48% coming from Europe, 21% from Asia, 20% from North America and the remainder from other continents. One third of the respondents are involved in footwear manufacturing (manufacturers), one quarter in footwear trade and distribution (traders) and 40% in other footwear-related activities such as trade associations, consultancy or journalism, amongst others.
Information was collected before the outbreak of the Coronavirus, which could potentially impact the views of the respondents and lead to conclusions in other directions.
