‘Success to me is something that inspires me for the next’

Abhishek Ganguly, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, is a Business leader with a proven track record of more than twelve years in the Sports, Lifestyle and Retail industry.

Currently, he is the Managing Director of Puma India. The brand is one the leading Sports brands in India and has been some huge success since it started up in the country in 2005.

Before Puma, Ganguly has had a successful stint of three years in Reebok during its early phase in India. There he started with Supply Chain and Planning and then got into Sales and Retail. Those days being early days for organized retail in India, and meant lot of challenges in every aspect of the business. Having worked on various parts of the value chain, Ganguly considers this stint as baptism by fire for him into the Indian business environment. At the time he moved out of Reebok in 2005, he was heading the Southern Region for the company

Post that he joined Puma’s start up team in India as the Director- Sales & Marketing. He was responsible for setting up the sales, marketing, retail, product, sourcing and planning functions in the company. Building teams, offices, manufacturing set up, stores, franchisee network at a fast scale, Puma soon became a leading brand in the country. Puma connected to its target consumers through its strong retail presence, innovative product offering and quirky marketing campaigns. This resulted in a huge growth in revenues and with strong profitability.

Establishing Puma from scratch to success is Ganguly’s biggest achievement. Currently, he heads the company as its Managing Director. He also got involved in setting up Puma’s cricket business. Right now, Ganguly is also the Global Cricket Head for Puma, an additional role given to him in 2012. Puma has been able to establish a clear positioning in cricket in all the relevant nations with an exciting range of products, players association, team sponsorships and marketing campaigns.

Ganguly has a penchant for startup situations and businesses. His acumen to understand business dynamics coupled with a strong commercial sense gives him the strategic purpose in business scenarios. And with a background of hands on experience in various facets, he has the ‘Operator’s Insight’. He has exposure to multiple consumer products and experience in managing various sales channels- direct retail, various wholesale networks and online commerce.

Abhishek’s strength lies in identifying growth opportunities and building a company with a holistic approach. His sharp acumen to understand market dynamics coupled with a strong commercial sense has seen him grow PUMA as one of the strongest sportswear brands in the country. He has a hands-on experience of managing multiple consumer products and has more than a decade’s experience in establishing a range of sales channels- Direct Retail, various wholesale networks and E-Commerce. He orients his entire team towards understanding of the target consumer and communicating with them through imaginative marketing. Currently, based out of Bangalore, he leads a highly passionate and motivated team at PUMA, the fastest sports brand in the world and loves every minute of it

Interview- Dec 18, 2019

Global sportswear brand PUMA announced the launch of the its biggest and entirely redesigned flagship store in India. With a focus on bringing technology, sports and experiential retail under one roof, the company’s first interactive retail store showcases an immersive brand space. With state-of-the-art digitally connected offerings, innovative engagement zones and an in-house customization studio, the flagship store spread over 7,500 square feet, spanning three floors is located on 100 ft road, Indiranagar.

At the launch, Abhishek said, “We believe that experience is the biggest proposition for offline retail as much as convenience is a key to online. And, that’s precisely the reason for launching a first-of-its-kind PUMA store in India. The futuristic retail environment is focused on creating an immersive experience by engaging the consumer throughout their shopping journey. As a leading sports brand in the country, we are committed to providing the best of digital and personalised shopping experiences across all platforms and investing in this store reinforces just that.”

What’s Unique

In addition to ranging the largest selection of merchandise available at any PUMA store in the country, it features tried and tested experiential elements from the recently launched PUMA store at Fifth Avenue in New York City. Key highlights include:

Highlighting the success of PUMA’s Motorsport category in India, consumers can enjoy the professional-grade F1 racing simulators and virtually race down the streets of New York City.
The customisation studio allows consumers to customize and personalize PUMA footwear, apparel and accessories using embroidery and print. The on-demand personalization offers over 100 quirky and fun design options to choose from.
Consumers can now access all PUMA products at the touch of a button. The interactive screen allows them to virtually scan through the entire PUMA range and not limit their selection to styles or colours available at the store. Thus, allowing them to place an order directly from the warehouse and have it shipped to their home.
India’s leading athlete and PUMA debuted the collaboration in 2017. On the heels of its continued success, the specially designed shop-in-shop features the largest PUMA one8 collection at a dedicated space spread over 100 sq. ft.
The brand’s successful re-entry into Basketball globally recently saw PUMA entry into the Performance Basketball category in India. The store will exclusively range the new basketball collection. The growing popularity of the game and fast-changing sporting culture provides immense potential to further promote the adoption of the sport and grow the category in India. This will play a key role in shaping PUMA India’s involvement in Basketball in the future.
The store will range exclusive global collaborations like Tetris, Helly Hansen, Adriana Lima, Ralph Sampson and Selena Gomez and top of the line performance collections. From motorsport, basketball and football to the limited-edition, the flagship store will retail Sportstyle and performance wear products for men, women and kids. Updated retail concept: The design is captivating with clean lines and a very modern look and feel. Taking the consumer on an intuitive shopping journey, the elevated layout and display like illuminated footwear walls focus on the products to ensure they demand attention, stand out and resonate with the consumer. With state-of-the-art double height storefronts, the façade mimics the sole patterns of PUMA’s iconic suede sneakers.
The sportswear brand is planning to open 4-5 such experiential stores in India in next 12-18 months. It is expected that these stores will be coming up in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune. “We have seen a lot of success in Indian market and we are very bullish about India for the next 5-10 years. We will continue to open more stores. Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi are among our top performing cities in the world,” shares Ganguly. “We are very bullish, but we will be always very mindful of the expansion,” he added. Apart from this, the brand is also focusing on kids category, which currently contributes 7 percent of the overall revenue.

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Abhishek Ganguly

MD & General Manager, Puma
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Age 42
Designation MD & General Manager
Present Company Puma, SE Asia
Qualification IIM, Lucknow
Experience
• Managing Director India

   South East Asia
  PUMA
• Former Managing Director

   Puma India
• Former Executive director

   Puma India
• Studied at Indian Institute of Management

   Lucknow

• Went to

   Mount Assisi School
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