What you need to know
Spending on footwear in Spain is broadly static, despite the economy having emerged from recession – in fact in 2018 it was the fastest growing of the big five EU economies. The main legacy issue is high levels of unemployment, especially among young people and this means that large sections of the population are still very price-, value- and discount-oriented, making it hard for retailers to drive up average selling prices.
Sales of specialist footwear retailers have stagnated during the past three years, partly for the reasons already outlined but also because they have been losing sales to non-specialist retailers, which have been more effective in identifying and fulfilling growing demand for casual footwear, such as trainers/sneakers. The specialist footwear retailing segment is also very fragmented, with even the largest specialist only accounting for a fraction over 5% of total specialists footwear retailers’ sales. Nonetheless, we believe there are opportunities for specialists to regain some of the ground they have ceded, particularly in the areas of customer service and sustainability.
Areas covered in this report
This report covers the footwear market in Spain, with a focus on footwear specialists.
The report does not cover non-specialists, such as department stores, in detail although these are looked at briefly in the Channels of Distribution section and also in our consumer research.
The report combines analysis of the market in Spain, including market sizes, specialists’ sales and forecasts, along with our in-depth consumer data, which analyses shoppers’ behaviour.
For the consumer research we asked questions on the following topics:
Which retailers had been used for footwear shopping, in-store and online
Agreement with a variety of attitude statements towards shopping for footwear
For the purpose of this report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
Consumer spending: The total amount spent by Spanish households (including sales tax) through all retail channels – both specialist and non-specialist. This covers all footwear categories, including trainers, but excludes game specific footwear (e.g. football boots, ski-boots) and orthopaedic footwear.
Retail sales: total sales of all types of footwear (excluding sales tax) via stores and directly to the consumer by specialist retailers of footwear. It includes online sales of these retailers where the majority of sales are in bricks and mortar outlets.
Channels of distribution: Mintel estimates of the proportions of spending on footwear via other channels, including the grocers, mixed goods retailers and non-store retailers.
