The industry sector I chose to look at was is the footwear manufacturing industry. Our family has been associated with this industry for over 16years. My family owns a footwear manufacturing company in India and we have been catering to clients like ZARA,NEXT,H&M etc for over a decade.
This is relevant to my career because I have over 4 years of work experience in this industry. I joined our family business after my graduation as a marketing manager and directly managed the top 4 major clients for the company. The fashion industry is an ever changing industry which makes it extremely competitive. I faced new challenges everyday and needed to constantly innovate in order to find efficient solutions. The dynamics of the industry in particular excite me and I enjoy the challenge of marketing our products across different countries
The most important fact I came across during my research states that imports from foreign countries account for 95% of the domestic demand of footwear in the US. Due to the labour intensive nature of the industry this trend is expected to grow further at 4.4% annually.
Over the past five years the footwear retail revenues have dropped at an effective 0.4 percent however as the economy is showing signs of recovery the revenue is expected to increase by 2 percent in 2013. Retailers over the years have put a lot of pressure on wholesalers and manufactures to cut costs resulting in a drop in overall industry revenue.
The key players in the industry are Nike and Adidas with 13.7$ and 8.6% of the market share respectively. The price of the shoes is directly proportional to the demand and the slow economic recovery has restricted the demand of shoes over the past 5 years however the prices saw an increase in 2012 and are expected to grow in 2013 at 1.9% per annum.
Since we own a manufacturing unit is it very important to know if there is an upward import trend in the footwear industry in the US. It is also interesting to learn how the change in economic conditions affects the footwear industry. I plan to go back to the fashion industry after my MBA. I understand the manufacturing industry in Asia I want to help major retailer is North America source footwear from India,China etc. I have an experience of managing a production unit therefore I can add value to the manufacturing industry in US and Canada. On the other hand I can use the key findings and knowledge of the market in US to help plan a business strategy for the exporters in Asia.
Sources : ibisworld.com