Children's shoes market: features and prospects
Children's shoes are special, but not only because they have high requirements. The fact is that sales of children's shoes are growing faster than sales of shoes for adults, and parents are willing to spend more than half of the "children's" budget on shoes for a child. What other features does the modern market of children's shoes have?
Every fourth couple is children’s
Children's shoes, which include shoes ranging in size from the smallest to 24, account for 12% of the total volume of the children's market, also formed by clothes, baby food, toys and goods for babies. As for the share in the structure of the shoe market, according to the Esper Group, today children's shoes sales account for 26% of all shoe sales in Russia. In other words, every fourth couple Russians buy for children. At the same time, the share of children's shoes in the structure of the shoe market on average increases by 11% per year, which is higher than the growth rates of other segments. According to the study “2011 Children's Products Market: Results of the Year and Forecast for 2012-2015 with WTO Accession”, conducted by Express-Review, during the period from 2013 to 2015, the annual growth rate of the Russian market for children's shoes will be at 16 % By the 2015 year, as experts at Market Analytics predict, the market for children's shoes will be more than 61 billion rubles.
The annual growth in sales of children's shoes is associated with a change in the model of consumer behavior after the crisis: people began to spend more on everyday pleasures and needs. Also, due to the reduction in the number of children in the family, the budget for shoes and clothes for the child has increased, and the importance of childhood has increased due to the tendency of families to have children later than was previously accepted. Today, Russian women give birth to their first child on average in 24 years, and in large cities in 27-28 years, while in 2007-2008 this indicator was 21 and 23-24 years, respectively.
Production and Import
According to Market Analytics, the volume of production of children's shoes in 2011 exceeded 15 million pairs (which is 9% more than in 2010). According to Market Analytics data from 2012 of the year, the largest Russian manufacturers of children's shoes in Russia are Egorievsk-Obuv OJSC (Kotofey, 3 million pairs a year), Antelope Pro LLC (Antelope, 1 million pairs a year ), OOO FDO Skorokhod (Skorokhod, 900 thousand pairs per year), Magnitogorsk Shoe Factory (FOMA, 600 thousand pairs per year) and CJSC Obuvprom (Top-Top, 600 thousand pairs per year).
According to the report of Market Analytics from 2011, about 142 million pairs of children's shoes are imported into Russia annually. The largest supplier is China: children's shoes from the Middle Kingdom accounts for 49% of imports. Other significant importers are Finland (36% of imports) and Estonia (5%).
The country of origin of children's shoes largely determines the place of production in price segmentation. According to the classification of RBC.research, shoes from China form a low price segment, accounting for 53% of the market for children's shoes, shoes and Russia - the average price segment (35%), and shoes from Europe - high (12%).
How much do buyers spend on children's shoes?
Children's shoes are a special category of shoes for a number of reasons. Firstly, higher demands are placed on her than on clothes, since she forms a gait, can affect the shape of the foot and lays the foundation for the child’s physical health. Secondly, when buying shoes for a kindergarten or school, it is recommended to comply with the requirements for the design and materials of shoes, and these recommendations are given by employees of children's institutions. Finally, the children's foot is constantly growing, but because of the health risk, it is impossible to buy shoes for a child to grow (which can not be said about clothes). All these factors become the reason why big budgets are spent on buying shoes than on buying clothes. As the Esper Group analysts calculated, on average of 18300 rubles per year that consumers in Moscow and 10 of other large cities of Russia were ready to spend on a child, 9600 rubles fell on shoes - that is, a little more than half of the available budget. According to analysts of Express-Review, the cost of shoes per child will increase by 12-15% per year. According to the company, in 2015 in Russia, on average, children under 14 will have more than 6 pairs of shoes per year, and the share of expenses for children's shoes in the average monthly salary will be 3,6%.
Where do parents buy shoes for children?
Recently, Esper Group specialists conducted a survey of more than 1200 respondents in shopping centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and several regional shopping centers in the European part of Russia. The aim of the survey was to find out where the respondents with monthly incomes “average and below” (up to and including 40 rubles) and “above average” (from 000 rubles per month) buy shoes for their children. As a result, Esper Group analysts got the following results: according to the overall rating, Detsky Mir (40% of respondents), Deti (000%), Gloria Jeans (17,9% ), "Happy to walk" (10,5%), H&M (8,4%), Ecco Kids (5%), Gulliver (4,7%), Kotofey (4,4%), Zara ( 3,7%) and Adidas (3,7%). Outside the dozens of leaders were "Korablik", "Sportmaster", "Limpopo", "Yustiks". Consumers from Moscow with average and lower average incomes also buy children's shoes in Berska and Oggi stores, shoppers from St. Petersburg also added Step by Step, Crocs, Orby and Waikiki to the list of retailers, and to the top ten chains most popular among parents from the regions, in addition to the brands mentioned above, included Antelope, Tsentrobuv, Jungle, Modis, Orsetto and Pelikan. It is interesting to note that the majority of parents with an income above the average choose all the same stores from the overall rating, however, in addition to them, they also buy children's shoes in Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Armani, Benetton, Gap, Dior and the children's stores "I will be a mom", " Mom is coming soon ”,“ Mom market ”.
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