By: Mujahid Hussain and Saif Ali Khan
Use of technology and online selling in the shoe industry of Pakistan:
When it comes to shoes industry Pakistan is having a unique name in the global market. Pakistan is having a vast experience in the field of leather processing and shoe making. The country’s most of the shoe industry is based in and near the city of Lahore. In the past traditional methods were used in the processing of leather and the shoe manufacturing process. Now the use of technology is wide spread and new techniques are used both in the manufacturing and the leather treatment processes. This has increased the production of shoes significantly as the efficiency is increased to a large extent. Also the process of manufacturing has become cheap as the requirement of labor is reduced significantly.
Just like the manufacturing the process of selling has also shifted towards technology that is in addition to selling through retail stores shoes are also sold through online platforms. And with the passage of time this trend is increasing at a fast pace. The Covid-19 has encouraged this mode of selling as in the initial days of lockdown it became very difficult to sell in store. Now-a-days almost all the brands are having online presence in addition to in store selling. Brands like Nike, Bata, Service, NDURE are all selling their shoes online are performing well. Shoes are also sold using platforms like Daraz etc. Yet there are challenges in the way of this transformation as the trust deficit is one of the main factor resulting in people showing caution while shopping online. But the brands which are having strong image are having very little impact on their online business when in comes to issues related to trust deficit. It is more of a challenge for the smaller and new brands. The lack of digital literacy and internet accessibility is also a factor hampering the growth of online shoe business.
The shoe industry of Pakistan has come a long way toward modernization in terms of manufacturing processes. Also in terms of selling it is shifting towards online modes at a very fast pace thanks to the covid-19. But still it is not at the point when compared to the trends in the developed world. In the way of this transformation certain hurdles are there which needs to be addressed in order to make this transformation smooth. If done so the online shoe selling will increase at a very fast pace resulting in companies and customers reaping the fruits of online selling in a very short time.
