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Top Challenges When Sourcing Footwear from India

Introduction

The Indian footwear industry is vast and diverse. With a rich heritage in the leather segment and the non-leather market catching up, the nation demonstrates immense growth potential. Businesses across the world rely on India for sandals, industrial shoes, boots, and flip-flops for their hand-made designs, construction techniques, and robust durability. From Kolhapuris and Mojaris to Peshawaris and Juttis – traditional Indian-style shoes are known worldwide for their exquisite blend of artistry and artisanal excellence. No wonder, the Indian footwear industry is poised to reach $29.2 billion in 2025, up from $17.89 billion from the previous year.

However, like all sourcing destinations, India comes with its set of challenges in terms of exports. This includes supply chain management disruptions, quality check issues and complexities in navigating the evolving market dynamics. The good news here is that plenty of adaptive strategies are in place that can be adapted by firms proactively  to counter them.
Let us learn the bottlenecks and understand them in detail to be able to strategize and make informed choices when sourcing from the 2nd largest footwear market in the world – India.

Supply Chain Management

One major problem that persists in the Indian footwear industry is the management of the complex and fragmented supply chain. Studies have found that 70% of the Indian footwear industry is slightly disorganized. This is because production requires extensive raw materials, leather, rubber, and various other synthetic items. These materials can either be made available within the distance of the country or sometimes have to be exported.

Moreover, the multiple stages of this process design and production usually require strong coordination and communication. This indeed becomes complex due to several reasons such as poor infrastructure, delayed deliveries, and low quality standards among the wholesale footwear suppliers. The footwear manufacturer thus has to analyze and mitigate such logistical problems and ensure the cost-efficient delivery of the product to the customer on time.

Compliance and Regulations

The footwear industry of India is regulated by many regulations. These are typically in the form of quality control measures, environment safeguards, and labor laws. The footwear industry is mandated to obtain the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) and get the IS mark on products. The weight of these compliance measures has to be borne by firms in an increasingly competitive environment. Working conditions, minimum wages, and safety standards are other critical conditions under the Indian labor laws that constitute a responsible supply chain. Further, environmental impact arising from the production processes, including waste management and sustainable materials usage creates severe complexity. The footwear industry might not be able to follow the standard ESG guidelines. Therefore, staying up to date with changing regulations often proves to cost time and money while requiring compliance by all companies to avoid litigation risks and reputational risks in the market.

Inventory Management

Managing footwear inventory efficiently is non-negotiable to avoid stockouts and meet customer needs during ripe market environments. Demand in the market has a lot of seasonalities especially due to weather changes and numerous Indian festivals while consumer trends keep changing simultaneously. Adding to this is the general whole-year round demands for sports shoes, medical shoes, school shoes, and hiking and trekking shoes.
Retailers must ensure that they have a balance between overstocking and understocking since overstocking incurs high storage costs while under-stocking could result in a loss of sales and customer displeasure. In addition to this, retail footwear is further segmented into casual, formal, and sports types, all of which need a very close demand forecast to have the right products at the right time. As the level of e-commerce penetrates the economy and the generation is demanding faster deliveries, efficiency in inventory management further adds up to consumers’ expectations.

Competitive Market Dynamics

The Indian footwear market is fiercely competitive with several local and global brands competing with one another. New companies from other countries emerge to take global brands like Nike, Adidas, and Puma into a wider market, meanwhile, local brands also compete aggressively to tap an increased consumer share from the growing middle class. The footwear industry has to keep a constant check on the changing consumer preferences, for instance, the recent preference for comfort and sustainability. Also, online shopping and direct-to-consumer sales models have posed new challenges for digital marketing, customer acquisition, and brand loyalty. In a competitive market, apart from improving quality and affordability, it is inevitable for footwear companies to develop a brand, conduct robust marketing, and invest in innovative designs to engage customers.

Inductus Global: The Solution to Footwear Sourcing Challenges

Inductus Global, a leading sourcing and procurement company in India, can be the ultimate solution-provider for the above challenges. The group of seasoned professionals here know the dynamics of the USA, UK, UAE, and African markets and can navigate the complex waters of global trade. We help with identifying, sourcing, and delivering the finished products along with providing services like design and development, business negotiations, mass management, packaging management, logistics management, shipping arrangement, and rigid quality checks.

Altogether, our customer-centric approach and transparency set us apart from competitors and help businesses ensure a sustainable and value-driven growth.

Conclusion

There do exist many opportunities to work around challenges regarding questions of supply chain management, regulatory compliance, inventory control, and market competition in the Indian footwear sector. The presiding solution, therefore, seems to be a product sourcing company like the one mentioned above. The best companies, like Inductus Global, advise on raw material sourcing and look into supply chain and vendor relationship management, simplifying footwear manufacturers’ operations and alleviating their logistical inconveniences. Furthermore, they lend aid in navigating regulatory requirements by making sure that manufacturers meet quality standards, become labor law compliant, and become environmentally friendly. Altogether, this ensures flawless procurement for global entities without having to worry about the product sourcing lifecycle.

From the inventory management perspective, procurement companies are organizations that help businesses with improved accuracy in demand forecasting, improved levels of inventory, and better distribution networks. With an extensive understanding of market trends and supplier capabilities, a procurement firm can keep brands in the business of footwear highly competitive as it ensures that they procure their materials at the highest quality while minimizing unit costs.

By partnering with an experienced procurement firm, businesses in the footwear industry can eliminate operational challenges and work more efficiently to allow time for creating innovations to stay competitive in the global landscape.

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