São Paulo – The Brazilian Footwear project, created to promote the industry’s products abroad, will bring to Brazil, starting next month, importers of footwear from the United Arab Emirates. Named VIP Buyer Project, the initiative aims to present to potential buyers the infrastructure of local companies, as well as talk to them to find out more about their demands. The Brazilian Footwear project is a partnership of the Brazilian Footwear Industry Association (Abicalçados) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and has 153 affiliated companies.
According to Abicalçados’ coordinator of trade promotion, Letícia Sperb Masselli, in May of this year the project’s representatives made a prospecting visit to the United Arab Emirates and, when meeting with local business owners, realized that importers from the UAE value the relationship between buyers and sellers, demonstrating an interest in getting to know the Brazilian footwear plants. Through this type of relationship, says Masseli, it’s possible to know, in detail, what is the demand of buyers, the volume they want, the average price, design and the type of finishing they desire.
The organizers will try, through VIP Buyer Project, to match the guests with the companies that offer exactly the product they wish to buy. “It’s a better action than the meetings and negotiations in a showroom, since the contact between buyers and sellers is made in a broader and better directed level. If necessary, we will send the clients to different production centers. We will do everything to please”, she said.
A company hired by the Brazilian Footwear project selected potential buyers. The initiative, the first with companies from the United Arab Emirates, invited three companies that aren’t yet buyers of Brazilian manufacturers. By the proposal, they will each visit Brazil in a different month, September through November. They already received the invitation and VIP Buyer Project is waiting for an answer.
“We already executed this project with buyers from other countries and the results were very positive. It’s a way to build relationships, since this way the client understands that the suppliers are offering a service, more than just a product, and sees them as partners”, said Masselli.
She also pointed out that Brazil already exports to the UAE, however, sales are still below their potential. “We supply only 1% of what the United Arab Emirates buy worldwide. There’s a lot of room to grow”, she said, reminding that in a lot of cases the products arrive in Dubai and from there are re-exported. Due to this reason, it’s possible to reach another large and varied market in other countries from Dubai. She said, however, that the main competitor is China, a country that offers footwear in large volume and low price.
According to data from the Brazilian Footwear project, last year the United Arab Emirates imported 1.97 million pairs from Brazil worth USD 21.77 million. In comparison to 2014’s performance, there was an increase of 7.2% in volume and 8.2% in revenues in dollar. Year-to-date until July, 1.17 million of pairs were sold, or 15.6% less than the same period of 2015, with revenues of USD 10.82 million, 35% less in the same comparison. The UAE are the 11th largest destination for Brazilian footwear.
The UAE is a target-market of the Brazilian Footwear project, along with the United States, Russia, China, Colombia and Germany. This month, the project’s organizers are giving talks on the UAE market to Abicalçados’ members. Lectures were held in the Rio Grande do Sul cities of Novo Hamburgo, on August 17, and Igrejinha, on Monday (22). Next Tuesday (30), a lecture is scheduled to take place in Birigui, 456 km from São Paulo.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
