The FINANCIAL — The number of pairs of shoes imported in Georgia in 2012 was 7,874,000, with a total value of USD 393,830,000, according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia.
The FINANCIAL — The number of pairs of shoes imported in Georgia in 2012 was 7,874,000, with a total value of USD 393,830,000, according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia. China is the main country where shoes are imported from, followed by Russia, Turkey, Iran, France, Ukraine, Belarus, Denmark, Italy and the USA. Import covers the largest share of the local shoe market of Georgia, with a population of 4.5 million.
The number of imported shoes was higher in 2011 than in 2012, with 15,338,000 pairs of shoes to the value of USD 720,234,000 imported in total. China was the leading country that shoes were imported from in 2011. Statistics show that local production experienced double growth in 2012.
Twenty-six thousand shoes were exported from Georgia in 2012, mostly to Armenia. The export totalled USD 313,000. Statistics show a decrease in the export of shoes in 2011 which amounted to just 11,000 pairs, or USD 230,000.
Euromonitor International forecasts that consumer expenditure on footwear will amount to GEL 223 in 2013. As for 2012, consumer expenditure consisted of GEL 213 and in 2011 – GEL 201. Euromonitor International states that per household expenditure on footwear is GEL 187 in 2013, compared to GEL 179 in 2012 and GEL 169 in 2011. The growth in consumer expenditure on footwear was 5.8 percent in 2011-2012 and will be 4.7 by the end of this year.
The footwear market is named as one of the worst fields in terms of bad consumer service and one of the leaders in terms of numbers of complaints received by the Consumer Federation of Georgia. “Customers are being deceived by the salespeople of different shoe stores,” said Madona Koidze, Director of the Consumer Federation. “For example, salespeople hide information about shoe quality, where they are imported from, whether or not they are damaged and similar information. We have built cases against several stores where customers have bought shoes that have then become damaged in just a few days. Customers mostly complain about being given misleading information about the shoes by shops’ salespeople,” she added.
There are several players on the market. The biggest share goes to Bata, Geox and Ecco which are united under one holding. Then comes Vogg which offers shoes produced in Tbilisi, Georgia. As the consultants say, demand for Georgian shoes is high as consumers are very favourably disposed towards local production.
One of the biggest shoe factories in Georgia is Levanto, located in Kutaisi. Shoes made in Levanto are distributed to different stores in Kutaisi and Tbilisi as well. Rumours about the stores of famous shoe brands being supplied with Levanto’s production are denied by the manager of the factory. Givi Gakhokidze, Manager at Levanto, said that a very limited number of shoes are made at Levanto every week.
“We do not even have partner stores,” Gakhokidze said. “We have our brand stores in the shopping centres ‘Grand Mall’ in Kutaisi, and ‘Passage’ and ‘Tbilisi Central’ in Tbilisi. Our production is not on sale in any other stores. Our shoes are being sold in different cities of Georgia, but the customers always know that these shoes have been made in Kutaisi,” he added.
The prices of Levanto men’s shoes start from GEL 75 and go up to GEL 115. As for women’s shoes, the prices range from GEL 40 to GEL 120. The prices are higher in winter when men’s shoes are available for from GEL 90 – GEL 137, and women’s – for from GEL 80 – GEL 200.
“The footwear market is not fully developed in Georgia at this stage. The import of foreign shoes is damaging the development of local production. Shoes imported from China are being sold very cheaply in Georgia. Restrictions should be imposed on imported shoes or different taxes should be reduced for local producers. This should happen to help develop local production and for better competition with imported goods,” he added.
The representatives of other shoe stores like Bata, Geox, Ecco and Vogg declined to comment on their activities in Georgia. The companies’ representatives prefer not to talk about the issue as there is no official research yet of the footwear market in Georgia.
“Our management prefers not to comment on footwear market development in Georgia. As there is no research on this issue our comment would be very subjective and not of use to our customers. No one will comment on the problems with the footwear market in Georgia. These topics have been more or less ignored by the media until now so why should we start talking about them now?” said the Marketing Manager of the holding uniting Bata, Geox and Ecco.
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