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Tariq Engineer

Mumbai , Jan. 12

Puma Sports India Pvt Ltd opened its first exclusive store in Mumbai on Friday. The 90-sq meter store is the sport lifestyle company's eighth outlet in India since it started operations in January 2006.

"We were waiting for the right location," said Puma Managing Director, Mr Rajiv Mehta. According to Mr Mehta, Puma plans to open 25 company-owned and operated exclusive stores in 2007. To that end the brand has identified a number of metros and mini-metros. "The kind of cities we would be looking at are Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Jaipur," Mr Mehta said.

Advertising and marketing will be a key part of Puma's plans this year. The focus will be on brand building, with the company using television, print and the online space for promotional activity.

The company, however, has no current plans to appoint a brand ambassador to help build its image."We think the product is strong enough to sell itself," Mr Mehta said. "We don't need a face for the product. That is why the strategy as of now is that the product is the hero."

Mr Mehta could not provide the total investment required for the new stores, but he did say that it cost roughly Rs 34,000 per sq meter on average for fixtures and fittings. He also said the average size of the new stores would be 150 to 200 sq meters, bringing the total cost of fixtures and fitting to approximately Rs 15 crore.

The company will also be introducing new product categories each season. The categories will be based on sports and lifestyles inspired by sports and include footwear and apparel. The Mumbai store offers Puma's sports performance products as well as beachwear and yoga/lounge collections. Puma is also the official licensee for Ferrari products.

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