Footwear Market in Denmark
The population in Denmark is around 5.3 million while the annual consumption of shoes is around 30 million pairs in the past two years. Denmark does produce shoes, but the quantity is relatively small and they are mainly for exported. Most of the shoes sold in Denmark are imported, while Linen-sole shoes, rubber shoes and canvas shoes from China are very popular.
The shoes sold in Denmark mainly come from Italy, Portugal, China, Indonesia, Spain, India, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan Province, Hong Kong SAR etc. Because of the short summer and long winter in Denmark, the quantity of shoes for autumn and winter is larger, especially leather-made shoes. Canvas shoes, plastic-sole shoes, EVA-sole shoes are very popular in recent years.
There is a large variety of shoes in Denmark. The ratio of various shoes is as follow: general leather-made shoes share the largest proportion (65%); rubber, plastic and water-proof shoes (partially are sports shoes) share 25% and other cloth shoes, slippers and indoor sports shoes share 15%.
Currently, North-European pay most attention on comfort and healthiness, so they prefer to buy those shoes which are strong, flexible and large in size while slim shoes are not preferable. Due to the climate, Denmark people like to wear plastic shoes or leather-made shoes with plastic sole, colourful half hi-top plastic shoes (rain shoes); the sales of soft leather-made shoes with thick and heavy plastic sole and male and female leather-made boots are good. Colourful thick canvas female shoes with thick and strong tyre-plastic sole are popular. The sales of sharp-headed, awl-shaped mid heel or high heel shoes with leather sole is relatively small. Bulky heels are used frequently for both males and females shoes. The favorite colours include black, brown, brownish red, white, normal and light grey. The materials used for males shoes are relatively delicate and brand-oriented, while there is not much variance in design. Shoes without shoestrings are welcome as men can put on and off easily. On the other hand, the design of females shoes keeps on changing while durable, practical kids shoes with multi-colours are more popular.
There are around 70 wholesalers in total in Denmark, including both large-scales' and small-scales'. They consist of manufacturers co wholesalers and retailers; importers co wholesalers; agents of imported shoes co wholesalers; middlemen who get commissions or directly sell to users or introduce users to deal with exporters. Wholesalers sell through concession counters, chain stores, supermarkets and individual selling websites. April is the month for looking for samples and the merchandisers of large-scale department stores get the samples from exporters. Merchandisers will take a vacation in July and will place order at the end of August.
Source: www.vnvbiz.com
Date: 12 Sept, 2006
