PUMA India clocked a revenue of `2,044 crore during CY 2021, up 45% from CY 2019 when it earned `1,413 crore. Managing director Abhishek Ganguly speaks to Venkata Susmita Biswas about the bets that paid off, areas of growth and more. Edited excerpts:
In 2020, when businesses were hit most severely, PUMA India’s revenue fell to `1,215 crore. What did you do differently in 2021?
The year 2021 was as challenging as the previous year. In fact, the number of days our stores remained closed in 2021 was more than the number of days that they were shut in 2020. Stores were closed for four months, especially in crucial cities such as Mumbai, because of local guidelines.
We had a headstart from a digital perspective, which helped. We launched our own D2C website four years ago. We had been over-reaching on ways to connect to the consumer digitally, whether through e-commerce, using social media platforms for engagement or working with influencers with a large following, etc. Hence, we had the skills and resources to respond to the pandemic.
What is the share of online sales in your overall revenues?
The young audience, which is our target audience, has a high affinity to the digital medium. Our own website brings in 8% of our overall revenue. Fashion and horizontal marketplaces complement each other. That said, the way we approach these in terms of product assortment and pricing depends on the type of marketplace. Overall, 43% of our revenue came from e-commerce sales in 2021, up from 25% in 2019. It is worth remembering that in 2021, offline retail was still under stress.
Do you plan to rationalise your investment in offline retail, then?
We are a multi-channel brand — both the channels have very different purposes. We opened 51 exclusive stores during 2021. We invested in exclusive stores, shop-in-shops, partnerships with departmental stores such as Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle, and regional partners, too. We will continue to invest in creating more retail spaces for ourselves because there has been a growth in demand for the sportswear and athleisure categories.
Recently, we launched a digitally enabled experiential store at Orion Mall in Bengaluru. The store has state-of-the-art offerings such as F1 Simulators and interactive retail screens. Shoppers can view the entire range of PUMA products on an interactive screen, place an order directly from the warehouse, and have the products delivered to their homes. Further, in 2022, people may step out more because they have been indoors for almost two years now.
We have always been interested in tier-II and tier-III markets because we believe that aspiration is getting created in the deeper parts of India now, thanks to access to social media. We are definitely looking at the white spaces that are available and when we should open a store in these locations.
Have you altered your product portfolio to match changing consumer behaviour?
Sport today transcends the boundaries of the court or the field — sport is in life and on the street. Believing in this philosophy has helped us. During the pandemic we launched shorts, track pants, sneakers and flip flops. We did it knowing full well that demand is growing in this space. Sport is entering the lives of people and increasing its share in the closet today as compared to five years ago.
We benefitted during the pandemic not because we changed our strategy or repositioned our brand. The aspect of people using our products even outside of sport existed before, and that was the key to our success.
You have a celebrity merchandise vertical. Are you looking at more collaborations with celebrities?
The Virat Kohli collaboration dates back to 2018. We did a special range with Myntra last year within this range. We would like to connect with the Indian audience in a unique manner so that they can emotionally connect with our products.
We will continuously look at opportunities. These collaborations are there for the long haul. Whether it is on the cricket side with IPL’s Royal Challengers Bangalore or on the football side with Bengaluru FC or Mumbai City FC, whenever a collaboration makes sense for us from a brand and business standpoint, we will definitely do it as they help connect us to local audiences.