The year 2022 was the best year ever for the footwear sector, with export growth of 22.2% to 2.347 million euros, but the arrival of a new calendar is marked by the sector’s general concern about the slowdown in demand. Micam, the largest shoe fair starting this Sunday in Italy, will serve to test the market. Portugal will be represented by 33 companies, a third of which had a regular presence in Milan before the pandemic, but the fair itself has not yet returned to pre-covid figures.
Nobrand and Lemon Jelly are some of the absentees, albeit for different reasons. The first believes that Micam is no longer the most suitable means to reach its customers, the second opts for a different strategy and opens a showroom temporarily, in the center of Milan, where it shows its new collection in a more exclusive environment, while celebrating the 10th anniversary of the brand, which was precisely announced in the March 2013 edition of Micam .
alternative paths
“Exhibitions are important, there is no other way. In fact, they are more important now than ever, because we are experiencing two atypical years, in terms of business, with huge demand, but things will certainly stabilize now,” says José Pinto , head of Lemon Jelly. O showroom The temporary show will be in operation for about a month and will continue for another month, to take advantage of the Milan Fashion Week circuit, whose men’s shows took place in January and the women’s run between February 21 and 27. “It allows us to reach a certain type of clientele, medium-high, who don’t go to exchanges,” he adds.
The Pedreira group, which owns Nobrand, among others, focused its investments on direct visits to customers. “The business itself and retail have changed, just like our type of customer. Direct contact is privileged and this allows us to achieve better results,” assures Sérgio Cunha. He admits to being “very worried” about the outlook for 2023. And that is why the lack of manpower, described by many as a limitation, does not concern the businessman from Felgueiras. Only the lack of orders: “It’s not that the first quarter is going to be bad, my concern is the nine months that follow,” he emphasizes.
industry weight
The spokesperson for the shoe association APICCAPS says the industry continues with “high levels of production, orders and business” but began to feel a “small reversal” in late 2022, already expected given the slowdown in the international economy. War doesn’t help. “Our reference market is the center and north of Europe and after the summer, the consumer’s priority was heating the houses,” defends Paulo Gonçalves.
Germany, France and the Netherlands alone account for 56% of Portuguese shoe exports, a number that rises to 66% if we include Denmark, Sweden and Belgium.
As mentioned, 2022 was the best year ever for the industry, crossing the two billion mark for the first time. There were 76 million pairs worth 2009 million euros, a year-on-year increase of 10.5% in quantity and 20.2% in value. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, the increase is 13.8%, but 2018 and 2019 were already years of lag. The best international performance to date was the 1956 million in 2017, a figure surpassed by 2.73%.
promotion in effect
Regarding the small participation of Portuguese companies in Micam, Paulo Gonçalves speaks of an “increasingly maturing” sector, which no longer has exhibitions as the only means of promotion, but is increasingly investing in digital marketing or access to platforms online.
Of the 10 million euros that the sector will receive this year for external promotion campaigns, with the support of Compete, 55% is for trade fair presence, 31% for promotion and prospecting and 14% for image and communication. 40 actions are planned at international fairs, involving around a hundred companies. “These are absolutely fundamental events to reach new customers, but the exchanges themselves are still recovering.”
Micam recognizes negative economic conditions
The 95th edition of Micam kicks off with 988 brands, of which 451 are foreign exhibitors. Figures are still far from pre-pandemic figures, when the largest and most relevant shoe fair in the world hosted 1,400 companies and more than 44,000 professional visitors.
Giovanna Ceolini, president of Micam Milano, acknowledges that the return to pre-covid numbers is slow, but recalls that “negative conditions like the ones we are going through cannot be absorbed quickly” and, above all, that many companies are also facing with the rising costs of raw materials and fuel, and therefore of transport.
The director admits that the pandemic has “signaled a strong acceleration in terms of digitization”, without this meaning that the stock markets are no longer useful. “Our industry always needs personal contact, so the face-to-face event remains indispensable. A digital component can certainly be added, but human contact is essential for realizing business opportunities,” he says.
Giovanna Ceolini has no doubt that Micam will always remain “the decisive test of the market” to capture trends, especially in this “critical phase” when it is necessary “to support the economic recovery of footwear and to maintain productivity at a level to bring”. prepandemic”.
The journalist traveled to Milan at the invitation of APICCAPS
Source: DN
