Footwear prices will increase by an average of 8.4% in the coming months, from +9.8% in Europe to +5.7% in North America, according to the World Footwear Business Condition Survey conducted by APICCAPS, Associação Portuguesa Ind. Calçado Componentes Artigos Pele Sucedaneos. Moderate recovery in consumption: North America +2.5%, Europe +5.2%, South America +7% and Asia +8.9%
Some 97 percent of those surveyed cited rapidly increasing prices of commodities and energy as likely having a significant impact on footwear prices in their countries, and 67 percent believe the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine will have a negative impact or “very negative impact” on the footwear business in their respective market.
Among other key findings:
- North American footwear consumption will grow 2.5 percent year-over-year, on average, compared to 5.2 percent in Europe, 8.9 percent in Asia and 7 percent in South America.
- The five biggest cited headwinds were: Cost of merchandise or raw materials (84%), human resource problems (40%), financial difficulties (28%), insufficient demand in home market (19%) and competition in home market (17%).
- U.S. footwear imports grew nearly 33 percent in the U.S. in 2021.
- Sixty-eight percent of respondents see the health of their footwear business over the next six months as strong (53%) or very strong (15%). But 50 percent of those surveyed from either North or South America described their footwear business as “neither strong nor weak” over the next six months.
- Majority of respondents predicted strong price growth on every continent except North America and Asia, where some forecasted falling prices.
