Puma to sign cricket icon for sales pitch

Puma Sports International, the $2.6 billion sporting goods manufacturer in Germany, plans to make its brand 'the most desirable sports lifestyle brand' in the country through its newly launched subsidiary Puma Sports India.

The company has drawn up an aggressive expansion plan for the Indian market to achieve the number one status in the sports lifestyle products market in the country by 2010.

Currently, it is the third largest sports goods company after Reebok and Nike. Its strategy includes expanding the network of exclusive outlets and spreading brand awareness by roping in popular sport icons to endorse their brand.

Rajiv Mehta, managing director, Puma Sports India, said, "We have created a new segment -- sports lifestyle -- within the sports footwear and apparel industry worldwide.

"We are not like any other sports goods maker and want to be known as a sports lifestyle proudcts maker." Puma will offer new products to consumers for both sports and related events. The Puma exclusive stores will host a wide range of shoes, apparels and accessories.

At present, products are available for golf, cricket, squash, football and many indoor games in the price range of Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 for apparel and Rs 1,000 to Rs 8,000 for footwear.

Puma, which has three exclusive outlets in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi, plans to open 6 more by end of this year and take the total number to 100 by 2010 at an investment of about Rs 40 crore. "Each of our stores will have a retail space of 1200 sq.ft. Apart from its own stores, it also plans to market their products through multi-brand outlets," Mehta said. "We want to have shop-in-shops at various MBOs, where our customers will get the same shopping experience as in our own stores. We are also planning to market through Metro Cash and Carry's distribution centres in the country,"

Mehta said adding that the company aims to garner a sizeable share of the Rs 800 crore sports goods market, which is growing at a rate of 20 per cent annually. To popularise its brand identity, Puma is planning to appoint a brand ambassador in various sporting events. It had recently tied up with Sourav Ghoshal, an under-19 Squash champion and looking at signing a cricketer, who is a young and most promising performer.

"We are in the process of identifying a cricketer who will be suitable to our brand. We will finalise the name after the South Africa tour," Mehta said.