Market analysis to establish retail textile companies in Colombia

Abstract: The economic crisis in the last few years has made that companies begin to seek fornew market opportunities where they can establish their businesses. Due to the lackof information and data, Colombia is not well known for Swedish textile companies.For this reason, in this market analysis, it is intended to give a clear understanding ofthe current situation in the Colombian market. Colombia is an emerging country withmany opportunities within the textile sector and some new approaches in the last fewyears have facilitated companies to establish in Colombia. The initiatives fromdifferent state and private organizations, has done it easier for doing business.Based on the data that have been collected from different international organizationsources, has showed that some factors are important to be considered by theSwedish textile companies when launching in a new market. One of the positivefactors in the Colombian market is the increase in the demand for the retail textilesector. Increase in the income level is also attractive for companies because peoplewill be more able to spend in textile products, and the stability that the country isfacing are some positive factors; people will be able to spend money in otherexpenses.The new free trade agreement is an advantage for Swedish companies if they decideto expand to the Colombian market. Since they don’t have barriers for trade, it willmake it easier for trading between Colombia and Sweden. But because this newagreement has been signed last year, the results will be visible after some years ofrelationship.The textile sector in Colombia has had an increase in the sales and the consumptionof textile; many international retail companies has established their business in theColombian market since this market is becoming even more attractive in LatinAmerica. However, it is important to determine which target group is going to befocused on, because there are different social classes in Colombia, and depending ofthe target group the demand could be different.All the mentioned above and more important factors are covered in this thesis work.There is not a direct answer for our thesis work, however we believe that theinformation provided here, will be truly helpful to get a general idea of the currentsituation in the retail textile sector in the Colombian market.