World footwear consumption by 2024 year will increase to 30 billion pairs

Shoe consumption in the world by 2024 will increase from the current 20 billion pairs to 30 billion. This forecast was announced at the World Footwear Congress, which was held in Rio de Janeiro in November.

The congress was held by the organizers of the world's major shoe exhibitions - Couromoda (Brazil), Micam (Italy), GDS (Germany) and Riva del Garda (Italy), as well as the European Confederation of Shoe Industry CEC and the Italian Footwear Manufacturers Association ANCI.

479 entrepreneurs from 29 countries took part in the Congress. The participants discussed the prospects of the shoe market, new models of production, sales and trends in consumer behavior.

According to Steve Lee, UK consultant for Steve Lee Associates, footwear consumption will increase as the world's population grows and wealth grows. The population is projected to grow to 2024 billion by 8, annual GDP will increase from the current $ 65 to $ 000, and per capita shoe consumption will increase from the current 105 pairs per year to 000 pairs.

China was and remains the dominant player in the footwear market, so the words of Zhan Xihua, Honorary President of the China Leather Association, were listened to with special interest at the congress. According to her calculations, in 2010, China produced 13 billion pairs of shoes worth $ 33,7 billion, of which 9,93 billion pairs were exported to 213 countries. One of the main challenges for Chinese manufacturers is the lack of skilled labor and rising wage costs. Now more than 6 million people work in 20 factories. On average, wages increased by 000-10% per year, which is why factory owners began to move production from the east coast to the interior of the country, where salaries are much lower: for comparison, workers on the coast now receive an average of about $ 20 per month, in the central regions of China - from $ 300 to 100.

Thomas Bata, CEO of Bata Group, noted that customers have become less loyal, less predictable and spend less time choosing shoes, which means that traditional retail needs to change the model of creating customer loyalty. These tasks will be central to Bata in the coming year.

According to Yulia Chursina, Marketing Director of one of the largest footwear companies in Russia Analpa.inc Moscow, next year will be difficult for Russian footwear producers. As well as for all Russian business in general. No one can predict what the ruble will exchange rate against the dollar, which means that the question of whether to raise the price in advance or reduce the volume of production remains open for importers of the finished product and components.

From the point of view of orders, Analpa.inc is calm for the future - in the Spring-Summer 2012 season, orders increased by 18%, even compared to the very good season for the company, Spring-Summer 2011.

According to forecasts, in retail, clearly “positioned” operators will not suffer, and the rest will give way to network retailers and discounters.