NEWS An Italian consumers’ association, Codacons, has reported that the News In Brief . . .
• A mixed Christmas selling season • Italy limits cash transactions • Managers take control of Sarenza • Euro-Holland launches new initiatives • Italy and Spain report good figures • William Lamb acquires a partner • Brazilian firms get government help • The Move On brand may disappear • Yue Yuen sees margins shrink
Better Christmas sales generally in the U.S. than in Europe
At the end of 2010, very cold weather had boosted sales of boots and
other shoe products tremendously, especially in Europe, creating shortages of boots and other cold-weather products. One year later, weather patterns had a negative influence on the sales of many shoe retailers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but there were exceptions. The market situation that has accompanied the 2011 Christmas shopping period has been particularly bad for shoe retailers in some European countries, particularly those where the economic situation has become most worrisome. Shoe retail sales turned out better than expected last month in at least three European countries. Positive signs were reported by independent shoe retailers in the Netherlands, although their margins were eroded. In France, a survey of shoe retailers indicated average sales increases of
between 2 and 3% for the month of December, as compared to the same month one year ago. It was a good surprise, considering that their sales had been declining by more than 5% year-on-year each month since last July, with the exception of a stable month of October. At least one pure online shoe retailer operating in France pointed out that its sales had grown by a double digit over the same period. In the U.K., the difficult economic situation and mild weather did not
prevent a 2.2% increase in overall retail sales of shoes and clothing in December, according to KPMG. Casual boots and plain shoe styles that can be worn for work or leisure fared well. However, even in the designer segment of the British shoe market, shoe sales were generally driven by aggressive discounting in order to reduce excess inventories. Instead, despite the rather positive shape of their country’s economy, German shoe retailers saw their salesdrop by nearly 20% in December, according to a survey quoted in Schuhkurier, but this was compared with the same month one year ago, when they had risen considerably due to very cold weather. The drop was mainly attributed to relatively mild temperatures and continuous rainfall. It is possible that pure online shoe retailers such as Zalando and Mirapodo performed better in Germany, though. Total retail sales over the internet increased by 13.8% in the country before Christmas, led by clothing, according to a national association grouping internet and mail-order retailers. The sovereign debt crisis had a major impact on the shoe market in Greece
and Italy. The Greek retail federation mentions a 40% drop in the shoe retailers’ turnover during the latest pre-Christmas season, indicating that it was the fourth year in a row that their sales had gone down during the period.
6 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • FEBRUARY 2012
recent Christmas selling season was the worst in the country in at least 10 years, due no doubt to Italy’s financial problems and the austerity measures enacted by its new government to try to overcome them. Sales of shoes and clothing fell by an estimated 30%, scoring worse than other major sectors. The association predicted poor traffic in the stores also for the after-season discount sales. In contrast with the bleak Italian picture, many U.S. retailers – but not all
of them – fared relatively well during the Christmas selling season, in spite of unseasonably warm weather. During the week ended on Dec. 19, the number of U.S. consumers visiting shoe retail chains went up by 28% compared with the previous week, according to NPD Group.
Spanish shoe exports continued to grow until September
Confirming the positive evolution of the first half of the year, the Spanish
trade balance in the sector continued to improve for the first nine months of 2011. While footwear exports went up by 10%, both in value and in volume, imports decreased by 6.11 % in volume, while increasing by 4.33% in value. Exports reached a level of €1,631.2 million over the nine-month period. The biggest increases were recorded in the areas of synthetic and canvas
shoes, both up by more than 18 %. With a total value of €1,012 million, leather shoes represented 62 % of all exports, but their sales abroad went up by only 6.14%, dropping in volume by 3.95% to 33.3 million pairs. Exports increased in all the major markets except in Greece, Austria, Denmark and Ireland. Overall, deliveries to all the other member countries of the European Union rose by 7% in volume and in value. In terms of value, they rose by 14.3% in Italy, by 7.5% in France, by 5.4 % in the U.K. and by 5.2% in Germany. In Eastern Europe, Spanish footwear recorded a sales increase in
value of 33.7% in Russia, 22.6% in Poland, 10.8% in Romania and 49.3% in the Ukraine. Sales in the U.S. grew by 10.3% in pairage and by 6.3% in value. Also in Canada, Spanish shoes performed well, with increases of 39.2 %
in volume and 23.9% in value. In Japan, they rose by 47.6 % in volume and by 35.6% in value, in spite of the tsunami earlier this year. China moved into 13th place, right after Japan and Russia, with a 79.1 %
increase in value to €24.6 million, accompanied by a 60.5% boost in terms of volume. Interestingly, at €45.73 per pair, China marked the highest average export price for Spanish shoes. Three other big emerging markets – India, Mexico and South Korea –
recorded increases in sales of Spanish shoes of 54.3%, 27.1% and 37.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, imports declined overall to 302.9 million pairs worth €1,755 million. Imports from China and Vietnam, which remain the two major foreign sources, fell slightly. Footwear imported from China dropped in volume by 6.9% to 220.4 million pairs, but it rose in value by 4.9% as the average price increased by 12.73% to €3.18 per pair. Imports from Vietnam declined by 9.6% in volume and by 3.9 % in value, but with an average price growing by 6.24% to €9.63. Portugal came in third place with huge increases of 71.6% in volume to
8.1 million pairs, and of 54.1 % in value to €118.7 million, but the average price went down by 10.2% to €14.51. India and Italy came next, but imports from both of these countries dropped slightly.
"The articles above are extracted from Shoe Intelligence, the international business publication on the footwear market. If you want to receive a full sample issue or ask for a free trial, please send an e-mail to
sampleft@edmpublications.com."
www.footweartoday.co.uk
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