São Paulo – From May 22 to 26, representatives of the Brazilian Footwear project will go on a business mission to the United Arab Emirates. The goal is to outline business strategies of the Brazilian footwear sector for that country. The program is organized by the Brazilian Footwear Industry Association (Abicalçados) and by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
Roberta Ramos, project manager at Abicalçados, explains that the mission is part of an effort for market opening done by Brazilian Footwear. First, the program commissioned a survey of UAE consumer perception of Brazilian footwear. The trip is the second phase of this work. “The idea [of the mission] is to confirm [on-site] the information from the survey and to set up the trade promotion strategy for the second half of the year”, she says.
The survey, released at the end of March and reported on by ANBA, showed that there are very well-known Brazilian brands in the UAE, such as West Coast, Dumond and Havaianas, and that the majority of local consumers were satisfied with their experiences with Brazilian footwear.
“We will decide if we should attend fairs, set up showrooms. With the mission, we can define the strategy”, said Ramos. The mission will have four members, three from Abicalçados and one from Apex. The group’s schedule includes a meeting with a public relations firm to work on the Brazilian products’ image in the country and meetings with logistics, distribution, and consulting companies, as well as clients.
“We will also make a guided visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi retail areas. We want to define what is the ideal sales outlet for our product”, says the executive.
Currently, 130 member companies of Brazilian Footwear project export to the United Arab Emirates. Despite the high number, only 0.7% of footwear imported by the Gulf country comes from Brazil. In Q1 of this year, the UAE bought USD 5 million in Brazilian footwear, 25% less than in the same period of 2015.
On the other hand, the average price paid for Brazilian footwear in the UAE is higher than the price paid worldwide. While Brazilian footwear is exported to the world on an average of USD 8 per pair, for the UAE this price climbs to USD 12.
According to Ramos, this is because the type of footwear that Brazil exports to the Gulf nation. “Almost 50% of exports to this destination is made of leather footwear”, says the Abicalçados manager. She adds also that there is a great deal of interest from Brazilian men’s shoes manufacturers in entering the market.
She believes that with several brands already being sold in the Arab country, it’s important for Brazil to be able to establish itself as a strong brand and industry there. “We already have many established brands there. It’s a market that we feel is very important for us to work on. We want to find out how to work as a single brand, as a Brazilian industry”, she assess.
The UAE is one of the target countries of the current agreement between Abicalçados and Apex, signed in 2015. Last Friday (15), the country was also confirmed as target for the 2017/2018 Brazilian Footwear agreement. This new edition includes also France, United Kingdom, United States, Colombia, China and Hong Kong.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
