23008_Nearshoring Report

Portugal and Spain offer attractive opportunities for businesses, particularly where cost, flexibility and shorter lead and journey times are important, such as in fast fashion, not least because the cost differential to CEE countries and even Asian

Nearshoring will also be attractive where production processes rely on degrees of automation (and are less dependent on (lower cost) labour). Particularly where the cost of investing in automation and technology is high, it may be preferable to locate these investments close by to mitigate other costs (such as transport) and also to maintain closer control and oversight of these facilities.

locations is no longer as large as it has been in the recent past.

Both Mango and Inditex, global fashion retailers based in Spain, source their products from a wide range of suppliers from across the world. They run similar strategies around sourcing with “twin-track” supply chains. Products coming from Asian countries such as China, Bangladesh and India, tend to be basics such as t-shirts which form part of the “long distance” or “long-haul” track, which runs parallel to their “proximity” or “quick-response” track where fashion items are made in factories in Spain and Portugal as well as in Türkiye and Morocco. This allows the retailers to ramp up production rapidly to replenish stock when an item is popular and in high demand. MANGO & INDITEX

WESTERN, SOUTHERN & NORTHERN EUROPE

Countries in Western, Southern & Northern Europe also continue to attract investment in nearshoring manufacturing where proximity is important to businesses for a variety of reasons – including where shorter journey times means shorter order lead times and lower transport costs.

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C U S H M A N & WA K E F I E L D

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