Footwear Industry Analysis - Case Study Example

The Shoe Industry Analysis The Shoe Industry Analysis The shoe industry is a wide industry that consists of many manufactures of footwear, the wholesalers and the retailers of the footwear products. In the industry, most of the major wholesalers of the footwear products are owners of renowned brand names and are independent manufacturers of the products. The retailers of the footwear products include retailers of the brand names as well as local businesses. The shoe industry basically contains of makers of all kinds of shoes.

They can however be broadly categorized as the athletic shoe makers and the non athletic shoe makers. The shoe industry also includes makers of accessories like shoe laces, socks and shoetrees among other accessorizing products. The shoe industry can be said to be among the few mature industries that are in the country. This is however not to mean that the shoe industry is not a competitive one. This means that there are some entry barriers in the shoe industry. The entry barriers in the industry are usually as a result of the strong brand loyalty amongst the consumers and the economies of scale.

In the industry, the demand is mainly driven by the fashion trends of the day. The demand is also driven by demographic factors and it is thus easy for newcomers to the industry to thrive as long as they have come up with an innovative and trendy product. The athletic shoe industry is mostly dominated by the two main producers of athletic footwear who are Adidas and Nike. There are however more players in competition in this industry (Kang 2006). The market for the non athletic shoes is more fragmented than the athletic footwear division and has more players.

The industry is however very global in nature and products that are produced in different countries are available for sale in different continents. Most of the successful players in the industry have therefore adopted a multinational strategy where they produce their shoes in countries that have friendly policies and sell them in countries that have growing economies. The shoe industry is an innovative industry as the shoe makers must keep in touch with the changing client needs which are reflected in the changing trends.

The athletic shoe makers have for example had to change the focus of the designs of their shoes from comfort to a combination of comfort and performance. In the non athletic shoe manufacturing, the makers have to offer trendy, smart, and fashion conscious designs. In the industry, the superior the shoes in terms of quality and fashion sense, the more expensive the product will be. The players in the industry therefore have to engage in market research to enable them to keep in touch with the customer needs (Ohmes, 2006).

There are many factors that will have an impact on the shoe industry in the future. These include the macroeconomic factors as well as the changing fashion trends. The consumer interests will also continue to have a major impact on the shoe industry. The industry is also likely to be impacted by the shift towards cheaper imports because of the reduced purchasing power among the customers. This means that it is likely that revenue in the industry will decrease. More players are also likely to get into the market and they will cause the industry to become more competitive.

References Kang, S. (2006). Sport shoe rivals step up. The Wall Street Journal, 6. Ohmes, R. (2005). Apparel, footwear & textiles industry overview. Bank of America Securities.