News: Puma to add stores, grow quickly in India

(RTR 14/01/2007) Mumbai - Puma will add new stores quickly in India as it makes up for lost time in the fast-growing market, a senior company official said on Friday.

The Bavarian firm, which has a leaping red puma logo, has been in India since mid-2005, first through a licensing deal with an Indian firm and then through a wholly-owned subsidiary.

It plans to add 25 new stores this year and have 90 to 110 stores by 2010, the managing director of the Indian unit said.

"We've done well in the first year of operations, and want to focus now on setting up new stores quickly and making the brand more visible," Rajiv Mehta said in an interview, declining to specify investment or revenue figures.

Puma, which sponsors soccer world champions Italy, has trailed rivals Nike Inc. and Adidas who entered India about 10 years ago and have grown quickly, helped by their associations with cricket, a national passion.

Nike is the Indian cricket team's official kit sponsor, while Adidas and its Reebok unit are endorsed by some cricketers.

Puma has signed on an Indian squash player and would look at signing local cricket clubs and individual cricketers, Mehta said, as well as working with Indian designers in a few years.

"We are using the sports lifestyle peg in India, so we would lean more towards fashion," Mehta said at a newly opened store -- located opposite a Nike store in one of Mumbai's upmarket malls.

Puma has said it expects growth to come from Asia and Latin America, and a quarter of its international revenue to come from China and India by 2010.

Puma, which had invested heavily in its soccer unit ahead of last year's World Cup, was now expanding its sports lifestyle fashion unit and also planned to enter areas such as golf bags and swimwear, which it will launch in 2007.

The sportswear market in India is valued at more than Rs 500 crore, KSA Technopak has estimated, with branded players gaining a larger share of a market that also has private store brands and smaller regional brands.

"We don't really care about the market share ... we want to be the most desirable sports goods brand in India," Mehta said.