Abhishek Ganguly - MD Puma India gives an insight into the incredible revenue growth achieved by the company

During the pandemic as India became more health cautious and awareness of fitness increased, MD of Puma India, Abhishek Ganguly seized this opportunity to make his company witness a 68% revenue growth.

Here are the excerpts from his recent interview with CNBC TV-18.

Puma is a German multinational company that designs and manufactures athletic and casual footwear, apparel and accessories. In 2021, Puma India reported a revenue of Rs 2,044 crore a jump of 68% from its previous Rs 1215 crore in 2020.

MD Abhishek Ganguly said that even though it was a tough year this happened because awareness of fitness and health grew during that period. Today, sportswear has become mainstream and a part of fashion that is used daily. On the company’s front, he mentioned that some initiatives like making digital their first channel not only for sales but also for marketing which they adopted before Covid helped them in the pandemic. Whatever they did in terms of the supply chain or product portfolio contributed to their success.

Compared to the other players, Puma is different as it believes in building a product portfolio that attracts Indian consumers. Their pricing strategy is that the perceived value of what the customers get when they buy a Puma product should be higher than what they have paid. They have partnered with many famous sportspersons and teams. Some of them are Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Royal Challengers Bangalore, football players like Sunil Chettri, Gurpreet Sandhu, ISL Football Teams, Bangalore Football Club, and Mumbai City FC. They also have investments in boxers including MC Mary Kom and partnerships with hockey players. This has made them a part of the entire Indian sports ecosystem.

Ganguly mentioned that they have an association with personalities in the field of entertainment, art, music, and movies as well. Regarding the celebrity merchandise vertical and celeb collaborations he said that the platform One8 with Virat Kohli has become a Rs 200 crore brand in itself. During the pandemic, they launched 1DER with KL Rahul and it has been really successful till now. They also got back to sponsoring the Royal Challengers Bangalore. All this has helped them create a range of products that speaks to the fans of each of these sports. In the coming days, Puma is planning to work with more celebs and athletes for better outreach and newer opportunities. On their future plan, Ganguly said that they currently have 411 stores and now they are aiming for tier 2-3 cities. He concluded by saying that these days shopping is not just a transaction, it is an experience and they are definitely focusing on this when opening stores.