 "We have no plans to vacate the running and fitness slot: Abhishek Ganguly")
Former Puma India sales and retail head Abhishek Ganguly took over as managing director after longstanding head Rajiv Mehta quit in September last year. Since then, Ganguly, 36, has been quietly working at consolidating Puma's position in India against Adidas. In an interview with Viveat Susan Pinto, Ganguly spells out his plans. Edited Excerpts:
Many believe that Puma consolidated its position as a running and fitness brand in India following Reebok's travails in 2012. Before that you were not in the top three...
I won't deny that we didn't gain share from Reebok. But at the same time we have been growing right from the initial years of our existence here. We became profitable in 2009, within three years of setting up shop in India. Since then we have made steady inroads into India using the right business model and practices. We have 330 stores in the country (a mix of franchises and company-owned stores), which are profitable. We did not pursue growth for the sake of growth and we don't intend to do that in the future too.
In India fitness clicks as opposed to sports-specific footwear...
Running is a big focus for us not just in India, but globally as well. While I will partially agree with you, I will not deny the influence of soccer on Indians too. Yes, Usain Bolt, our global brand ambassador, is celebrated here in India like a cricketer, but you have followers of soccer as well in the country. There are people who are loyal fans of international soccer clubs and footballers. You have football-playing states such as West Bengal and Kerala. You have kids from international schools who are increasingly playing soccer rather than cricket. So there is a market out there that is evolving. It is a category of the future for us. Something we see growing bigger, not now, but later. The bulk of our revenue comes from running and fitness, but as soccer evolves, this mix could change.
What are you doing to increase your visibility around football?
We were the ball sponsors at the Indian Super League last year. That gave us huge visibility. We have the Puma-Arsenal kits that were launched here too. The response to them has been good. We are building further associations around football to strengthen our presence around the sport. Of course, we will not take our eye off running even as we strengthen our association around football. We have two running properties, Urban Stampede, a running challenge for corporates, and School of Speed, an initiative for schools. We are in the process of expanding these properties to cover more cities. We currently conduct Urban Stampede, for instance, in eight cities. We propose to take it to more places in the country. We also just launched a new running shoe called Ignite in Mumbai. India is only the third market after Japan and the US where the product has been unveiled. This goes to show that we have no plans to vacate the running and fitness slot. If anything, we will further consolidate our position in that space.
Puma recently appointed singer Rihanna as its creative director in the women's segment. When will lines created by her make it to India?
They will be launched in the near term as she creates her products for Puma. We get around 35 per cent of our Indian revenues from the women's segment. This is second to men's, which is 65 per cent. Women's is also the fastest growing segment for us. So Rihanna's creations will be keenly awaited as when they are launched to give further impetus to this segment.
What are your revenues from e-commerce? All sportswear brands have steadily migrated online and are doing well there....
I cannot tell you how much e-commerce gives us in terms of revenues. But it is growing and we have both our online store as well as third-party associations. However, I don't see growth from online coming at the expense of offline. Our brick-and-mortar stores will continue to give us good business.
Many believe that Puma consolidated its position as a running and fitness brand in India following Reebok's travails in 2012. Before that you were not in the top three...
I won't deny that we didn't gain share from Reebok. But at the same time we have been growing right from the initial years of our existence here. We became profitable in 2009, within three years of setting up shop in India. Since then we have made steady inroads into India using the right business model and practices. We have 330 stores in the country (a mix of franchises and company-owned stores), which are profitable. We did not pursue growth for the sake of growth and we don't intend to do that in the future too.
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Running is a big focus for us not just in India, but globally as well. While I will partially agree with you, I will not deny the influence of soccer on Indians too. Yes, Usain Bolt, our global brand ambassador, is celebrated here in India like a cricketer, but you have followers of soccer as well in the country. There are people who are loyal fans of international soccer clubs and footballers. You have football-playing states such as West Bengal and Kerala. You have kids from international schools who are increasingly playing soccer rather than cricket. So there is a market out there that is evolving. It is a category of the future for us. Something we see growing bigger, not now, but later. The bulk of our revenue comes from running and fitness, but as soccer evolves, this mix could change.
What are you doing to increase your visibility around football?
We were the ball sponsors at the Indian Super League last year. That gave us huge visibility. We have the Puma-Arsenal kits that were launched here too. The response to them has been good. We are building further associations around football to strengthen our presence around the sport. Of course, we will not take our eye off running even as we strengthen our association around football. We have two running properties, Urban Stampede, a running challenge for corporates, and School of Speed, an initiative for schools. We are in the process of expanding these properties to cover more cities. We currently conduct Urban Stampede, for instance, in eight cities. We propose to take it to more places in the country. We also just launched a new running shoe called Ignite in Mumbai. India is only the third market after Japan and the US where the product has been unveiled. This goes to show that we have no plans to vacate the running and fitness slot. If anything, we will further consolidate our position in that space.
Puma recently appointed singer Rihanna as its creative director in the women's segment. When will lines created by her make it to India?
They will be launched in the near term as she creates her products for Puma. We get around 35 per cent of our Indian revenues from the women's segment. This is second to men's, which is 65 per cent. Women's is also the fastest growing segment for us. So Rihanna's creations will be keenly awaited as when they are launched to give further impetus to this segment.
What are your revenues from e-commerce? All sportswear brands have steadily migrated online and are doing well there....
I cannot tell you how much e-commerce gives us in terms of revenues. But it is growing and we have both our online store as well as third-party associations. However, I don't see growth from online coming at the expense of offline. Our brick-and-mortar stores will continue to give us good business.