PEST Factor: Political
According to this article, 99% of the footwear purchased by Americans are imported and there is no longer a domestic shoe industry to protect, yet the US are still imposing shoe tariffs on imports with tax rates between 37.5% and 67.5% which is quite a high percentage. This tariff law has been imposed since 1930 which is a long time ago and the political issue is that the government seems to be afraid to get rid of this tariff because they might be accused of not helping the local industry. However, since there is practically no domestic shoe industry, from this article, it may be that the US government will finally rid of this law. This will be an opportunity for Adidas because North America is one of Adidas’ key “attack” markets and without this tariff, Adidas will be able to sell their products (shoes) at a more affordable price to even more consumers which may boost sales as well.
Sources:
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/11/the-us-has-imposed-protective-shoe-tariffs-on-americans-for-decades-even-with-no-domestic-shoe-industry-to-protect/
http://www.outdoorindustry.org/news/industry.php?newsId=17559
http://www.adidas-group.com/en/investorrelations/strategy/global_sales/default.aspx
According to this article, 99% of the footwear purchased by Americans are imported and there is no longer a domestic shoe industry to protect, yet the US are still imposing shoe tariffs on imports with tax rates between 37.5% and 67.5% which is quite a high percentage. This tariff law has been imposed since 1930 which is a long time ago and the political issue is that the government seems to be afraid to get rid of this tariff because they might be accused of not helping the local industry. However, since there is practically no domestic shoe industry, from this article, it may be that the US government will finally rid of this law. This will be an opportunity for Adidas because North America is one of Adidas’ key “attack” markets and without this tariff, Adidas will be able to sell their products (shoes) at a more affordable price to even more consumers which may boost sales as well.
Sources:
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/11/the-us-has-imposed-protective-shoe-tariffs-on-americans-for-decades-even-with-no-domestic-shoe-industry-to-protect/
http://www.outdoorindustry.org/news/industry.php?newsId=17559
http://www.adidas-group.com/en/investorrelations/strategy/global_sales/default.aspx