The biggest drop in footwear consumption in 60 years
The United States, the third largest footwear consumer market in the world, with nearly 2,500 million pairs per year, during 2020 has suffered the effects of the pandemic, showing signs of a significant slowdown in sales.
At the beginning of March, the health situation accounted for almost 30 million infected and more than 510 thousand deaths.
Matt Priest, president and executive director of the FDRA (Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America), the local footwear association of that country, in conversation with the specialized portal WORLD FOOTWEAR reported that "during 2020, US consumer spending on footwear was down -12.3% compared to 2019. It is the first annual decrease in eleven years and the steepest contraction in more than sixty years”.
With reference to footwear retailers and stores, he pointed out that they face limitations in both supply and demand. On the one hand, many commercialization companies work with small staff at their points of sale and at their headquarters, due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.
As a consequence of lower imports, many store stocks have fallen sharply in the third and fourth quarters, to the lowest level in the last seven years.
"The drop in imports is the result of rising trans-Pacific container shipping costs, high tariffs and a weak dollar that has driven the increase in the prices of raw materials”.
On the demand side, he confirmed that “it is very weak, since consumers prioritize spending on other products (health, medicines, etc.) rather than on footwear. If to this is added that numerous stores limit the access of customers, the demand is even more affected”.
In this regard, he made the exception that this situation differs according to the area or region and its degree of impact from the pandemic, noting that there are stores that work with limitations, while others remain inactive.
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