A group of lean, fit and relatively small companies are taking the footwear manufacturers industry by storm and showing the bigger players how it’s done.
That’s according to leading business analysis Plimsoll Publishing, who say the emerging companies are:
• Increasing sales at three times the rate of their larger competitors
• Delivering four times the profitability
• Showing five times the return on investment
According to Plimsoll, which has 16,000 customers worldwide who rely on its regular reports on the market, price deflation is hitting the bigger companies where it hurts – in their pockets. It started with air travel, moved to electrical goods, used cars and even insurance. And now it has arrived in the footwear manufacturers industry.
17 of the top 70 firms are loosing money, while 37 are making less profit than last year. Salaries alone at the top 70 companies eat up 19% of sales. In general they pay their staff more and are less productive. But the new kids on the block are nimbler, slicker and more efficient.
Plimsoll’s senior analyst, David Pattison, said "17 of the bigger companies are displaying symptoms of extreme tiredness. But the big companies are desperate not to miss out on the new profit and growth areas, so they are busy hunting down the emerging firms. At Plimsoll, we have identified why this is happening, and who it is happening to."
The footwear manufacturers business is just the latest in the long line of industries to be affected by falling prices. The cost of used cars has fallen by an average 3.6% since 2000. Over the same period, the price of IT equipment has dropped by 20%, photographic gear by 8%, clothing by 6% and toys by 5%. At the same time, the cost of production has risen by 1.3% in one year alone, between 2005 and 2006.
The findings are contained in a special two-part analysis of the industry. The first part of the study focuses on the top 70 footwear manufacturers companies and sets their performance in the context of the overall market, while the second identifies and charts the progress of the up and coming firms outside the largest 70.
These findings are based upon Plimsolls latest research into the Top 70 companies in the footwear manufacturers market. The full analysis is available to order from www.plimsoll.co.uk or by calling 01642 626422 or emailing c.sherwood@ plimsoll.co.uk . Readers of Footwear Today can also claim a FREE second analysis into the rest of the footwear manufacturing industry when ordering and quoting the reference PR03.
Plimsoll has a track record in predicting business trends. It conducts independent business analysis in the UK, France and Japan.
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