Puma’s Collab With Kohli Pays Off In India

In November 2017, Puma launched its collaboration with One8 – the lifestyle brand owned by Indian batting ace Virat Kohli – and after two and half years, the partnership is yielding strong results, now contributing a tenth of the German brand’s sales in India.

The collaboration with Kohli has played a pivotal role in helping it register an overall 23% growth in revenue, and corner the top rank for Puma in its category. This is rather surprising as it was a late entrant in India— beginning operations in 2006 and didn’t have the more established cache Nike and Adidas enjoyed there.

According to the company, Puma’s collaboration with the Indian cricket captain saw a significant rise in sales in FY2019 with sales through One8 accounting for almost 10% of its overall sales, and strengthening its grip as the number one brand in the premium sportswear category.

With an annual turnover of INR 1,413 crore (~US$193m) in fiscal year 2019, Puma has taken a full 14% points lead over the immediate rival Adidas which recorded a revenue of INR 1,250 crore (US$170.6m+), while the same is almost double that of Nike’s INR 831 crore (US$113.4m+) revenue. Puma’s current status is a stark contrast to 2018, where its lead against Adidas was a mere 2.4% in 2018.

“We have cemented our leadership position as the country’s number one sports brand with a revenue growth of 23% at INR 1,413 crore in the fiscal year ‘19, in a market where retail spending has been sluggish due to a the general slowdown,” Puma said earlier this week.

It attributed the performance to a better performance in tier-2 and 3 markets, while its online sales soared 27%, offline clipped at 15%, and the ‘like to like’ stores sales rose 17% across its 373 outlets, it said, adding overall growth was also boosted by categories like women’s.

“It’s been a great partnering with Puma to launch One8. I’ve had the opportunity to create my own personalised collection in collaboration with Puma and become the first sportsperson to partner with Puma for a product line such as this,” Kohli, who is also the global brand ambassador for Puma told through a statement.

Abhishek Ganguly, managing director of Puma India chipped in saying, “our collaboration with Kohli’s One8 saw an exponential rise in sales in 2019, accounting for almost 10% of our total sales.”

The German brand expects the robust growth to continue with its global chief executive Bjorn Gulden anticipating a major rise in sales in 2020 with the Olympics and T20 championships around the corner, despite the looming clouds of a global pandemic.

“India is a strategic market for us and we are thrilled to see the performance. Being the No 1 brand in India is a reflection of how well we understand our consumers and how pleased they are with our products,” Gulden was quoted in the statement.

Unveiling the global sales numbers last week, Gulden described 2019 as “the best year in Puma’s history” as worldwide revenue surged to 5.5 billion euros (U$6.1m+), up 18.4% and he highlighted India as a strong driver of growth in Asia.

“Year 2019 has been fantastic for us globally and in India. Our partnership with Kohli has been one of the most successful for us globally. Puma One8 continues to grow steadily,” Ganguly said, adding the tie-up with the cricket captain is the first of its kind for Puma in the country where they have also created a complete line with him.

According to ASN data, Puma has invested almost US$21.2m in the Asian sponsorship market since Q217— giving it an 18.8% market share and cementing its position as the second-largest spender for its category, just behind Nike (30.3%). Bearing in mind, Puma’s strong revenue growth in India, it has allocated 41.3% of its sponsorship investment into India, making it the biggest market for the brand, even surpassing Japan’s (40.4%) share, its next largest market.