Tie-up with Virat's One8 contributes 10% of Puma India sales

Association with One8, the brand run by cricketer Virat Kohli, has contributed a full 10 per cent of Puma India sales for the global sportswear brand Puma in 2019 fiscal year, helping the German brand clock an overall 23 per cent growth in revenue, and corner the numero uno slot.

The achievement comes amidst plunging sales across all segments from soaps to biscuits to automobiles, leave alone premium sportswear.

The achievement is also significant as unlike rivals Nike and Adidas, Puma was a late entrant, beginning operations only in 2006 in the country coupled with the fact that Puma has done such collaboration for the first in the country.

According to the company, Puma's collaboration with the Indian cricket captain saw a massive rise in sales in FY2019 with sales through One8 accounting for almost 10 per cent of its overall sales, and cementing the leadership position by a wider margin.

With an annual turnover of Rs 1,413 crore in FY2019, Puma has taken a full 14 percentage points lead over the immediate rival Adidas which recorded a revenue of Rs 1,250 crore, while the same is almost double that of Nike's with a Rs 831 crore revenue. Puma's sales gap with Adidas was just 2.4 per cent in FY2018.

"We have cemented our leadership position as the country's number one sports brand with a revenue growth of 23 per cent at Rs 1,413 crore in FY19, in a market where retail spending has been sluggish due to a the general slowdown," Puma said on Monday.

It attributed the performance to the better show in tier 2 & 3 markets, while its online sales soared 27 per cent, offline clipped at 15 per cent, and the 'like to like' stores sales rose 17 per cent 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 PTI 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 FY19, accounting for almost 10 per cent of our total sales."