Collaboration with Rihanna
Puma wants to conquer the US market
April 20, 2024, 10:12 a.m
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In the USA, the sporting goods manufacturer Puma currently occupies eighth place on the market. The company wants to compete with the giants Nike and Adidas and is therefore investing in the Olympics and the megastar Rihanna.
The Franconian sporting goods manufacturer Puma wants to catch up with the industry giants Adidas and Nike – especially in the USA. “We are number three globally and the gap to the two bigger ones is shrinking,” said Puma CEO Arne Freundt. “In the USA we had a difficult year and are currently number eight, which cannot and will not stay that way. The USA is not only a very important market, American athletes and artists influence people all over the world.” Puma therefore opened a design and development center in Hollywood.
Freundt is dissatisfied with the development of the Puma share price, which fell by up to 40 percent from the middle of 2023 to the beginning of 2024 and has since recovered slightly to recently reach 42 euros. The man in his mid-forties, who succeeded Bjørn Gulden at the top of Puma in 2023 after Bjørn Gulden, who unexpectedly left for his “neighbour” Adidas, also blames himself. “We have to recognize that I am a new face on the capital market. Trust in a CEO has to be there “I’m sure we have the right strategy.” Adidas and Puma are both based in Herzogenaurach near Nuremberg.
Freundt has no stance on the sensational planned change of the German Football Association’s (DFB) supplier from Adidas to Nike. “For me it’s emotionless,” he told the newspaper. “There was obviously a substantially better offer.” At the European Football Championship in Germany, Puma is not represented as a supplier to the top teams, but to various teams from the second and third row. “We have to be present at the international tournaments. But actually the players and club teams are a higher priority for us.”
Puma relies on Olympia and Rihanna
The sports equipment manufacturer is also counting on the impact of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, which achieved sales of a total of 8.602 billion euros in 2023 (Adidas: 21.427 billion euros, Nike: the equivalent of 48.032 billion euros). The background is also the strong presence in athletics, said Freundt to WamS. The aim is to further expand the market position in the running sector.
The group has also been working for years with superstar Rihanna, who acted as creative director from 2014 to 2018 and released several shoe collections. According to media reports, sales increased by one billion euros in the first year as a result of the collaboration. The announcement of a renewed partnership between the megastar and the sports manufacturer caused a stir last fall.