Puma hopeful about its growth in Indian market

Months after getting FDI approval for single brand retail, German sportswear firm Puma is very bullish about Indian market and expects categories such as women's products, running and sport style range to drive future growth.

Abhishek Ganguly, MD, Puma India, said, "We are going to be very bullish about the India market..Prime driver of growth for Puma going forward will be new innovations and launches. Category wise, we are extremely excited about the women's products, running and sport style products."

Puma, which reported 14 per cent rise in sales for calendar year 2015 at Rs 878 crore, in August got government approval to set up its own retail and e-commerce operations.

Ganguly further added, "Our own e-commerce will be a very important strategy next year...We want to have direct engagement with our consumers, hence we are putting in lot of effort in communicating with our customers through our portal."

He also said, "We have had huge success in India in a very short time. While we have expanded our retail network.We have not expanded mindlessly. We never looked at opening stores as a marketing tool. We will keep same approach going forward".

Puma has opened about 25 stores this year. It currently operates 350 stores in 110 cities.