Poor summer weather hits German retailers
14/09/2007
The president of the German Footwear Retailers Federation, Brigitte Wischnewski, has announced that footwear sales in Europe’s largest economy for the first half of 2007 are up by 6% on the previous year.
“It was a positive performance,” she said, “especially in April, when we achieved an increase of 18%, but poor summer weather has affected us. Sales were down by 2% in July, compared to July last year, and early indications are that August will show a similar drop.”
She also pointed out that a 2.6% rise in value-added tax had hit margins.
On the positive side, she pointed to the benefits footwear retailers in Germany have from selling in a large and prosperous economy: this year, she said, each person in Germany will spend €109 on shoes.
Women’s shoes command a 57% share of the total footwear market in Germany, while men’s shoes have only a 16% share, and children’s shoes 11%.
