The footwear and clothing market is buoyant, with higher levels of expenditure, on a per capita basis, than in the UK as a whole, and this buoyancy has been forecasted to continue. The main reasons are the increase in the levels of disposable income and the decline in unemployment, both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Demographics.
Population structure: growth rates which are higher than the UK average, higher proportions of people aged under 35, a greater proportion of single people and a higher percentage of the population in the family stage.
After serious economic problems experienced in the past (quite close), there have been a legacy of high levels of welfare recipients than the UK as a whole.
Despite this, the percentage of household expenditure on clothing and footwear in Ireland is higher than in UK.
Ireland's Adult Population Structure by Age - 1998 (1).
Segment REPUBLIC North Ireland UK.
15-24 22,7% 19,7% 15,1%.
25-34 18" 20,1% 19,4%.
35-44 17,9% 17,2% 17,5%.
45-54 15,3% 14,9% 16,2%.
55-64 10,5% 11,4% 12,2%.
65+ 14,7% 16,7% 19,6%.
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Purchasing Patterns.
TGI data examining expenditure on a variety of clothing items, shows a more pronounced trend towards the purchasing of more expensive garments in the Republic than exists for North Ireland.
Possible reasons for this could be the intense price competition in this sector, which has occurred in Northern Ireland (as in the UK) and an element of trading-up in the Republic, triggered by rising incomes and greater consumer choice.
Around a third of the respondents generally only ever go shopping for a particular occasion or when something needs replacing. However, men were considerably more likely than women to shop in this manner. Approximately 20% of them simple love shopping and often spend more than they should. The responses to this statement have a distinctly female bias.
Consumers in the Republic also appear to be less price-oriented in their shopping habits compared to North Ireland.
Creation of the Irish Free State. ... The two Irelands. ... Orangeism in Ireland. ... Ireland became really an independent island (except Northern Ireland). ... When Great Britain was not able to manage Ireland, it partitioned Ireland and took northern part of Ireland, which was the most developed. ...
The company was dealing with its success by dividing its products into three main areas: footwear, apparel, and international (Hast, 1988). ... The majority of the company produces and sells footwear, but other sales come from apparel, accessories, and sports and fitness equipment. The company also has products for infants and children under the name Weebok that has both shoes and clothing items. ... Some of the countries include, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Portugal, the UK, Japan, and South Korea (Reebok Annual Report, 1999). .....
Founded by Erling Persson in 1947, it was initially called Hennes, the Swedish translation being "hers", and focused on selling just women's clothing. In 1968, the company purchased Mauritz Widforss and hence was renamed to Hennes & Mauritz and, since then, has diversified over the years and expanded its product portfolio, specializing in areas such as womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, footwear, accessories, cosmetics and home furnishings. ... Also, as the distribution centres are mainly located in the European regions, it becomes difficult to develop online stores in the glo...
