ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ

For years, the textile industry has been one of the important industries in the Latvian economy contributing around *% to the overall GDP. Moreover, relatively cheap labor and favorable government policies also helped the country to emerge as an attractive destination for global apparel brands to establish their manufacturing facilities. Therefore, an increase in value of textile exports during 2007-2017 comes as no surprise. At the same time, an increasing per capita income helped the clothing retail market to register a robust growth of more than **% during 2011-2018.

Share of online retail to increase

As in many other countries across the globe, physical stores are increasingly being challenged by online retailers. This is probably the key reason why turnover growth in brick-and-mortar retail remained under ** percent in 2018, all across the EU. In case of Latvia, the scenario is gloomier with retail stores registering a growth of little over *% in 2018 over the previous year. Thus, DHL’s estimates of a nearly 100% growth in eCommerce activities in the country during 2015-2020 does not seem out of reach.