An Analysis of Puma’s Global Marketing

in the COVID-19 Era

Zichun Pan, Kaiyan Wang, Yuechun Wang, and Ruonan Zhao

Abstract Puma is one of the well-known sportswear brands. It’s reasonable and
rigorous in product design, as well as long-term clear objectives in market segmen-
tation and distribution channel management. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, Puma
was far behind Nike, Reebok, Adidas, and other clothing giants in marketing and
sales. The research analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the Puma brand from
the inside, based on SWOT. From the external analysis, the existing threats, compet-
itive situations, and development opportunities in the market are all analyzed. Based
on the perspective of 4Ps Marketing Theory, this study analyzed the market for Puma
products and studies the strategies for products, pricing, placement, and promotion.
Puma’s main market is Asia. Further this paper made a discussion based on the SWOT
analysis and give some suggestions on further marketing strategies. The implication
as well as contribution were discussed later and limitation and future study were also
included.

Keywords Puma · Marketing mix theory · SWOT

Z. Pan, K. Wang, Y. Wang, R. Zhao: These authors contributed equally.

Z. Pan
JBJI Economic, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511486, China
K. Wang
Economics and Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Y. Wang
Economics and Management, University of Putra Malaysia, Yunnan 653100, China
R. Zhao (B)
International Business, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215028, China
e-mail: Ruonan.zhao19@students.xjtlu.edu.cn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 35
X. Li et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Economic
Management and Green Development, Applied Economics and Policy Studies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7826-5_4
36 Z. Pan et al.

1 Introduction

1.1 Research Background

Puma is a well-known sportswear company, founded in Germany in 1948 (http://tex

tilegoglobal.com/xwzx/yw/70109.html). The group owns brands like Puma, Cobra
Golf, and Tretorn, and this paper will only focus on its Puma brand (https://baike.
baidu.com/item/PUMA/620783).
In the past 30 years, Puma’s turnover has increased nearly 20 times, from 141.9
to 3163.3 million euros in 2021 (https://about.puma.com/en/this-is-puma/history).
This is undoubtedly a great success. As a world-famous sports brand developed
from a small shoe factory, this achievement is not only related to its products but
also because of its marketing strategy, which plays a crucial role. Besides, Puma
was once selected as one of the 50 most valuable clothing brands in the world in
2020, which confirmed the outside world’s recognition of Puma’s marketing strategy
(https://about.puma.com/en/sustainability/social/covid-19-supply-chain).
The paper object, Puma, which belongs to the sports brand market, will be
discussed in this article about its global marketing strategy during the COVID-
19 pandemic. The global pandemic of coronavirus disease in 2019 has had an
unprecedented impact on Puma (https://fashionunited.com/executive/management/
puma-swings-to-loss-as-covid-19-hits-sales-scraps-full-year-outlook/202007293
4703). Taking the second quarter of 2019 as an example, the net loss in that quarter
was 114.8 million euros, and the sales decreased by 30.7% (https://about.puma.
com/en/newsroom/corporate-news/2020/2020-03-11-corona). Otherwise, not only
that, the epidemic has also had many negative impacts on Puma’s supply chain
and procurement (https://www.statista.com/statistics/268466/footwear-sales-of-
puma-worldwide-since-1993/). But in Puma’s 2021 annual report, although some
self-owned and operated stores and partner stores were temporarily closed due to
government measures on the epidemic, looking at Tables 1 and 2 as a whole, Puma’s
sales in 2021 are still higher than in 2020, not only in the breakdown by distribution
channels, but also in the breakdown by product divisions (https://annual-report.
puma.com/2021/downloads/puma-ar-2021_annual-report.pdf).

Table 1 The net sales of the group are broken down by distribution channels (e million) (https://
annual-report.puma.com/2021/downloads/puma-ar-2021_annual-report.pdf)
2021 2020
Footwear 3163.6 2367.6
Apparel 2517.3 1974.1
Accessories 1124.5 892.7
Total 6805.4 5234.4
An Analysis of Puma’s Global Marketing in the COVID-19 Era 37

Table 2 The net sales of the group are broken down by product divisions (e million) (https://ann
ual-report.puma.com/2021/downloads/puma-ar-2021_annual-report.pdf)
2021 2020
Wholesale 5080.6 3809.9
Retail 1724.8 1424.5
Total 6805.4 5234.4

1.2 Research Gap

While there has been much research on Puma’s apparel brand strategy and SWOT
analysis, Puma’s global environment has also changed due to the emergence of
COVID-19 and the new globalization changes in the COVID-19 era. The dramatic
changes in the COVID-19 global environment require every company to respond
in real-time and change its traditional approach. The logistics and offline service
industries have been hit hard, and the Internet has become a popular communication
channel. At the same time, consumers’ shopping behaviors and purchasing tendencies
also change from diverse and complex to simple and frugal (Mehta et al. 2020).
Therefore, the research gap analyzes Puma’s brand strategy in the COVID-19
era. Moreover, the research topic is how to market Puma in the global market in the
COVID-19 era.
Exploring on this issue can close the last research gap and provide a specific case
analysis for developing the garment industry in the COVID-19 era. Also, it provides
more effective suggestions for Puma’s sustainable development in the whole industry.

1.3 Fill the Gap

In this case study, the marketing strategy of Puma, its marketing mix theory, and
SWOT Analysis will be discussed. First, the fierce competition and future opportu-
nities in the Puma market will be analyzed by SWOT Analysis. Through marketing
mix theory, Puma’s main market is the Asian market. Then they investigate whether
they can explore the emerging markets in Asia and seek to significantly expand their
market share. And whether it can increase its sales in these regions by paying attention
to the changing patterns of these industries and catering to the public accordingly. In
terms of the product, this research will determine whether Puma considers leaving
the sports industry to focus on the company that produces products in the lifestyle
field and develops new customer markets. In terms of promotion, although Puma
has sponsored numerous sporting events and backed numerous celebrities and sports
heroes, this is insufficient in comparison to competitors, so focusing on their other
strategies to respond in the following paragraphs, this research plan will focus on
how Puma can keep its competitive advantage and expand its market share. And
how to boost effectiveness, brand awareness, and sales in order to boost profits?
38 Z. Pan et al.

The marketing mix theory and a SWOT analysis will be utilized to investigate these
issues in the following research (https://thesocialgrabber.com/market-segmentation-
of-puma/).

2 Literature Review

2.1 Marketing Mix Theory

Over the past decades, most of the research in the marketing area paid particular
attention to the marketing mix theory to measure the enterprise’s marketing strategy.
In 1953, Neil Borden showed the rudimentary of the marketing mix theory, which was
used to provide a comprehensive consideration of the effects generated by different
marketing factors. At the beginning of the 1950s, Professor McCarthy was able to
define in more detail the marketing factors which were mentioned in this theory into
four parts: price, product, place, and promotion. This is also referred to simply as
the 4Ps combination of marketing (Meissner and McCarthy 1960). In 1967, Kotler
further determined the marketing method with this theory as the core.
However, with the development of marketing mix theory, the concept of big
marketing was put forward. In 1986, Kotler added two factors, which are polit-
ical power and public relations, to the controllable factors for enterprises to conduct
marketing activities, thus forming the marketing 6Ps. On the basis of 4Ps, 6Ps gave
more consideration to the market factors that enterprises needed to consider and
control to develop in the international market (Philip 1986).

2.2 Important Results

Place. According to Kotler, the factor considered, “Place,” considered that the enter-
prise did not sell directly to customers but sold through different distribution chan-
nels. In the process of distribution, enterprises need to consider how to distribute and
where to set up the distribution location to maximize the economic benefits of the
enterprise (Philip 1986).
Therefore, this part focuses on the role of distribution channels in improving
product sales. In 2022, Frenando demonstrated that distribution channels refer to
a series of enterprises or intermediaries that deliver goods or services to buyers or
end consumers through these channels. This process includes wholesalers, retailers,
distributors, and even the Internet (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/distribut
ion-channel.asp).
Good distribution channel planning has an important impact on the
promotion of purchase intention. Hadi in 2019 showed that Apple had
tapped more potential users by opening its own outlets, that was, Apple
An Analysis of Puma’s Global Marketing in the COVID-19 Era 39

stores. In addition, Apple’s online portal has also played a great role
in improving Apple’s performance, becoming one of Apple’s most prof-
itable channels (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336471791_THE_EFF
ECT_OF_MARKETING_MIX_ON_ORGANIZATIONS_PERFORMANCE). As
Luenendonk Last emphasized in 2019, if the company did not have a detailed distri-
bution channel plan, the sales volume would be reduced and the cost would be high
(https://www.cleverism.com/place-four-ps-marketing-mix/).
Product. Overall, quality and service effect on the consumer’s purchase.
Product Quality. Lei Lei in 2020 demonstrated that through exploring Luckin coffee
in the Internet environment, consumers would be more willing to buy when the
quality of raw materials was ensured and the production process was strengthened
(Lei 2020). In 2020, Yu Zhaolei published an article that Yantai Enbang Electronic
Technology Co., Ltd. received many complaints about the quality of ink jet machines.
Therefore, it was very important to ensure the quality of the products sold to maintain
customers (Yu 2020). By distributing questionnaires to a sample of Medical Equip-
ment Technologies employees in Al-Saaeda Company in 2018, Thabit and Raewf
discovered that the most important factor in increasing customer satisfaction was the
quality of products (Thabit and Raewf 2018).
Product Service. Lei Lei in 2020 also showed that providing customers with a person-
alized shopping experience (such as opening personalized experience venues, parent–
child coffee interaction centers, providing private customization, etc.) would attract
more maverick young people (Lei 2020). The study of L’Oreal’s marketing strategy in
China carried out by Zhang Lisha in 2019 found that establishing brand services that
adapt to Chinese consumers could enhance consumers’ willingness to buy, such as
adopting beauty consultant-style consumer services to deepen consumers’ under-
standing of products and give consumers a comfortable experience, in order to
increase the sales success rate (Zhang 2019). On the basis of the national unified
regulations from 2016 to 2018, Wang Yangmuzi conducted a questionnaire survey
on customer satisfaction among the customers who visited the sales field of a real
estate project in 2020. He concluded that because the service of the sales staff on
the case site was not timely and professional enough, the consumers who visited the
case site ultimately lacked the overall sense of cognition and their purchase inten-
tion was low (Wang 2020). By analyzing the effect of marketing mix variables for
Wardah products in Pekanbaru, Wibowo and Arsyelan were able to show that it
should strengthen its product line by flooding the target market so that it was often
and easily seen by consumers and could add distribution lines to maintain product
availability in the market (Asdi and Putra 2020).
Price. In terms of price, it is not easy to simply lower prices or increase discounts
in a short period, and Puma is a sports apparel brand, which can be matched with
coats, pants, shoes, and bags, so bundling sales is a good choice.
40 Z. Pan et al.

In 2002, Stremersch and Tellis systematically defined and classified bundling

strategies. They defined bundling strategies as “overall sales of two or more inde-
pendent products”, whereas “independent products” were defined as “products that
already existed separately in separate markets” (Stremersch and Tellis 2002).
By data analysis of the experimenters’ integrated bundle pricing optimization
model for multiple products, Fang et al. in 2017 showed that customers with lower
consumption levels preferred lower commodity prices and larger bundle sizes (Fang
et al. 2017). In addition, when the product cost is high, it is best to bundle a small
number of products at a high price and vice versa. Also, in 1997, Chen put forward
a balance theory of product bundling, which showed that bundling is not only a way
to differentiate products but also a balanced strategy for rival companies, so that the
leading enterprises producing homogeneous products could still make profits in the
fierce price competition (Chen 1997).
In 2004, Oppewal and Holyoake assumed that bundling was more advantageous
in regions with more competitive or similar products. They conducted an experiment
in which volunteers were asked to shop for a beach holiday. The results showed that
consumers were more likely to buy bundled goods or not buy at all when there were
more competitors nearby (Oppewal and Holyoake 2004).
Promotion. In 2018, Hitesh Bhasin demonstrated that Puma had identified personal
characteristics, such as motivation, lifestyle, and fitness level, in order to attract
customers from different market segments (http://www.marketing91.com/market
ing-strategy-puma/). It is committed to these parameters to promote its brand
and make it more attractive to end customers. In an MBA school team in 2021,
they showed that Puma, in order to improve its competitiveness, sold its items at
a lower price than its competitors (https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/pro
ducts/17274-puma.html). Last but not least, it has exploited celebrities to promote
its products, as well as the most up-to-date digital platform approaches to promote
its items. An article published by K. J. Somaiya school in 2021 said Puma, in addi-
tion to celebrity endorsements, had created a number of fascinating and innovative
campaigns to attract customers (http://www.coursehero.com/file/p36emkhp/The-
promotional-and-advertising-strategy-in-the-Puma-marketing-strategy-is-as/). The
peel-off sticker campaign, which is part of the “Run the Streets” campaign, is one
example. During the campaign, they placed 2000 stickers in the shape of Puma’s
logo on Singapore’s Bugis subway station. These stickers offered a 30% discount on
Puma purchases. Puma is well-represented on digital platforms and social media, in
addition to television advertisements and print media. By drawing on the concept of
promotion for Puma, Aditya and Shastri found that Puma sold its products at lower
prices than its competitors to give them competition. It has also exploited celebrities
to promote its products, and it has applied the most recent digital platform techniques
to promote its products (https://iide.co/case-studies/marketing-strategy-of-puma/).
An Analysis of Puma’s Global Marketing in the COVID-19 Era 41

2.3 Summary

Collectively, these studies outline that the factors which strengthen consumers’
purchases are proper distribution channels, high product quality and service, bundling
strategies, using celebrities to promote its products, etc. Also, these aspects are indis-
pensable for Puma. As for the COVID-19 outbreak globally, how Puma could act in
the epidemic situation should be thought about.

3 Method

3.1 Research Design

This paper will employ the qualitative analysis method and SWOT as an analysis
tool to assist the analysis.
First of all, qualitative analysis refers to the method of collecting and analyzing
non-digital data and generating deep insights and new ideas about research prob-
lems through understanding concepts, views, or experiences (https://www.scribbr.
com/methodology/qualitative-research/). The use of qualitative case study is a well-
established approach to relying on a small part of high-quality data information to
get detailed opinions through the details of information, which is also the reason
why qualitative analysis is applied in this paper (https://vittana.org/23-advantages-
and-disadvantages-of-qualitative-research).
SWOT (i.e., strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis refers to
an analysis tool utilized to evaluate the company’s current situation and external
environment so as to formulate clear and efficient strategic planning. Among them,
strengths and weaknesses emphasize the analysis of the company’s internal factors,
while opportunities and threats focus on the company’s external environmental
factors (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp). The main advantage of
Manuels’s Effe States’s SWOT analysis is that it objectively and fairly focuses on the
current situation and challenges of the company, so that it can give a comprehensive
and complete summary of strategic guidance (https://ssacltd.com/insight/benefits-
of-swot-analysis/). As this article aims to analyze Puma’s strategy for the whole
world market under the epidemic situation, SWOT analysis can not only analyze
Puma’s internal strategy but also give a comprehensive analysis and assessment of
the external environment, that is, the epidemic situation.

3.2 Puma

Puma is a German sports brand founded in 1948. Sportswear, sports shoes, and sports
articles are among its products. Puma also involves football, running, training, racing,
42 Z. Pan et al.

and sports-inspired life series. Puma is also a well-known sports brand, ranking
second only to Adidas and Nike. Puma has been adhering to the “Forever Faster”
brand and is committed to influencing the traditional sports industry by combining
fashion and sports.
The COVID-19 epidemic confronted Puma with a number of difficulties during
2020 that impacted practically every aspect of operations. The supply chain faced
difficulties when several suppliers’ plants had to close due to the epidemic in China in
January or were unable to operate at full capacity. People adopt hygienic procedures
at their offices, warehouses, and retail outlets to guarantee the security and health of
their clients and staff. Large athletic events were either canceled or delayed as the
virus moved to other parts of the world, and the majority of their owned and operated
stores had to close entirely or in part in the second quarter. The new lockdown and
travel restrictions hurt business in the fourth quarter, even though the third quarter
was once again very strong. All of these adjustments required swift responses from
us. The Puma guiding principle was to weather and handle this catastrophe in the
short term without compromising forward momentum in the middle. As a result, they
came up with three main goals: to minimize the expected fall in sales; to protect the
supply chain; to cut expenses; and to ensure liquidity.
Puma continued to invest in a full line of products for the next season and recruited
a number of new marketing partners to ensure that the brand did not lose momentum.
Football player Neymar Jr., one of the most accomplished athletes of his generation,
and Puma inked a long-term pact in September. The Puma KING football boot, which
was previously worn by Puma football giants like Pelé, Cruyff, and Maradona, was
worn by Neymar Jr. Puma also welcomed English singer and songwriter Dua Lipa
as a women’s ambassador, who will appear in important campaigns for the brand.
Winnie Harlow joined the Puma family in early 2020 and has already headed the
marketing campaigns for several new footwear franchises, including the KYRON
and the MILE RIDER.
The articles were searched from the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019 to
the COVID-19 era. Puma markets worldwide were included in the study because
COVID-19 has affected countries in most ways. The subject was chosen because the
global market has a certain uniformity and cannot be affected by the regional spec-
ifications that may arise from a separate analysis of a particular region. In addition,
Puma is currently an international brand, so the analysis of this subject can better
adapt to Puma’s goal of product standardization.

3.3 SWOT Analysis

Strength. In terms of place, Puma has responded well to the negative impact
of the epidemic through its strong e-commerce store. Puma has three distribu-
tion channels: wholesale, retail stores, and e-commerce stores owned and oper-
ated by Puma. In the face of the epidemic, Puma’s e-commerce channel has
An Analysis of Puma’s Global Marketing in the COVID-19 Era 43

played a great driving role (https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/products/

17274-puma.html). Taking the fourth quarter of 2020 as an example, the total turnover
of Puma’s retail stores and e-commerce increased by 19.3% to USD 502 million,
which was driven by the strong growth of e-commerce (https://about.puma.com/en/
newsroom/corporate-news/2021/02-24-2021-q4-results). Even in 2020, when almost
all Puma businesses in China have disappeared for nearly six weeks from the
end of January, e-commerce is still operating under the effect of the serious
epidemic and has become the only channel for Puma to operate in China during
this period of time (https://about.puma.com/en/newsroom/corporate-news/2021/02-
24-2021-q4-results).
In terms of products, Puma has developed premium products such as compressed
tees or apparel using drycell technology to allow people to exercise in a dry and
safe way while exercising, reducing the risk of injury, which strengthens consumers’
willingness to buy. And Puma sells its products in more than 120 countries through
subsidiaries and retail, which increases brand awareness and attracts more customers
(https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/50750/).
Puma’s prices are in the middle of the pack among sportswear brands, and it has
more customers who can afford it than Nike and Adidas. Its price, if nothing else,
has made Puma the preferred choice for students and workers with limited means.
Puma’s apparel sales have grown dramatically over the years, reaching more than
2.5 billion euros in 2021, while its footwear division remains the company’s biggest
profit generator (https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/50750/). Figure 1 shows Puma’s
footwear sales worldwide from 1993 to 2021 (in a million euros), which shows
a healthy growth rate. Moreover, they have been focusing on aggressive expansion,
which could lead to higher growth in the coming year.
In terms of advertising creative strategy, Puma pays attention to emotional appeal,
supplemented by rational appeal. Their slogan is “always be yourself”. Puma has
generated unique emotions for commodities or enterprises in the way of emotional
appeal. The key to Puma’s success is constantly testing and trying many different
activities on social media and publishing different posts to promote them.
Puma has 762k followers in India and 11.7 million followers on Insta-
gram (https://www.statista.com/statistics/268466/footwear-sales-of-puma-worldw
ide-since-1993/). They also have various pages on Instagram, like Puma Women,
Puma Motor Sports, Puma Football, and Puma Sport Style, which show their diver-
sified products. The features of these pictures are that stars or athletes take photos in
their clothes, which makes fans of athletes or stars want to buy the same model. For
example, a famous star like Rihanna, when she spoke for Puma, many consumers
poured in, which would arouse the herd mentality of most consumers. Puma chooses
ambassadors according to their stories and common beliefs, aiming to humanize
the brand. The cooperation with Fenty x Rihanna is a wonderful series, which has
brought a lot of attention to the brand. Puma chooses ambassadors according to
their stories and common beliefs, aiming to humanize the brand. That’s why this
wonderful series of Fenty x Rihanna has come into being. At the same time, it has
brought a lot of attention to the brand and a lot of attention to the brand.
44 Z. Pan et al.

Fig. 1 Puma’s footwear sales worldwide from 1993 to 2021 (in million Euros) (https://www.sta
tista.com/statistics/268466/footwear-sales-of-puma-worldwide-since-1993/)

Puma’s team also created some great social media activities on Facebook, not
just promoting beautiful sneakers or clothes. For example, the “See Only Great”
campaign aims to bring light to this uncertain world. “She Touched Us.” This event
aims to empower women around the world. It’s all about confidence, style, and the
power of nature.
Weakness. In terms of products, in the sportswear industry, Puma has strong competi-
tors in terms of product quality and product service, which makes it difficult to have
loyal customer groups.
In the pandemic era, the Internet is growing faster than ever, and this environment
has spawned many influential clothing industries with trendy clothes that are cheaper
than Puma. Moreover, because they do not have the burden of offline marketing, they
can offer more discounts or events online, which can be a disadvantage for Puma in
significant markets.
Puma relies only on the group’s external unified advertising and various promo-
tional activities to maintain market attention. There is no high-level, independent
public relations promotion and advertising release for itself. Such a strategy will
inevitably lead to a decline in consumers’ attention and loyalty to Puma. In today’s
increasingly fierce market competition, Puma wastes the opportunity to expand
further, extend and sublimate its excellent brand image.
According to the survey, consumers are more willing to buy Adidas, Nike shoes
and clothing, and Puma just with a try mentality (http://iide.co/case-studies/mar
keting-strategy-of-puma/). It can be seen that consumers’ loyalty to Puma is not
high, which may be due to the lack of marketing activities and brand culture
communication, so consumers do not have good contact with Puma.
An Analysis of Puma’s Global Marketing in the COVID-19 Era 45

Opportunity. In terms of products, Puma’s products have many styles with various
colors, sizes, and shapes, and the target customers range from professional athletes
to fitness personnel, which increases the selectivity of customers and attracts more
customers to buy products. What’s more, Puma has always been committed to brand
sustainability. Producing products from sustainable raw materials will strengthen the
brand, and more environmentalists will favor it.
People’s incomes have increased a lot compared to the last decade. They also
showed a strong interest in upgrading to buy quality goods in all industries. Puma can
take advantage of this opportunity to launch high-quality clothing with higher quality
or lower prices, thus transforming these potential customers into direct consumers
and gaining more sales.
It has a great opportunity to increase its business in new developing markets in
Asia. According to the current changing trends, they can improve their businesses in
India, Vietnam, Mexico, etc. to increase their global footprints.
Threaten. In terms of place, Puma faces great external threats. Puma’s offline
sales channels have been severely damaged due to the epidemic. First of all, many
offline stores have been suspended due to epidemic control in some countries and
regions. Taking China as an example, due to restrictions imposed by local authori-
ties, most of Puma’s own and operated stores and cooperative stores in China were
temporarily closed in February, 2020 (https://about.puma.com/en/newsroom/corpor
ate-news/2020/2020-03-11-corona). By the end of March 2020, about 80% of Puma’s
own and operated retail stores and most of its retail partners’ stores will be closed.
Therefore, the brand lost more than half of its sales in April 2020 compared with the
same period last year (https://about.puma.com/en/newsroom/corporate-news/2021/
02-24-2021-q4-results). In addition, many countries in the world have closed their
offline stores due to the epidemic. For example, in March 2020, all Puma stores in
Germany were forced to suspend business (https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/50750/).
Even though Herzogenaurach emphasized that most of Puma’s stores in Europe
operated normally under the effect of the epidemic, these companies shortened their
business hours in accordance with the regulations of the authorities, which also had
a negative impact on Puma’s offline store sales.
On the other hand, due to the restrictions on customers’ travel generated by
the epidemic, the sales volume of offline stores that did not suspend business
also decreased significantly due to the decrease in passenger flow. Puma stated
that in 2020, the passenger flow of Puma in European countries will be signif-
icantly reduced. In addition, other Asian markets, such as Singapore, Malaysia,
Japan, and South Korea, usually benefit from Chinese tourists. Therefore, when
the Chinese government implements restrictions on going abroad, their sales have
also been seriously adversely affected (herzogenaurach1). In addition, since the
sales volume of Puma in the Asian market accounts for nearly one third of its total
sales volume, the epidemic is undoubtedly a huge source of crisis for Puma in the
Asian market (https://www.cityam.com/CORONAVIRUS-OUTBREAK-SPORTS
WEAR-GIANTS-PUMA-AND-ADIDAS-WARN-ON-TRADING-IMPACT/).
In terms of products, there are many counterfeit Puma products on the market,
and customers buying counterfeit products will reduce their willingness to buy Puma,
46 Z. Pan et al.

which will cause Puma to lose many potential customers and infringe on intellectual
property rights.
Puma has plenty of alternatives in terms of price, and consumers have both more
expensive and cheaper options. Competitors such as Converse, Reebok, Nike, and
Adidas threaten Puma’s ability to expand its market or secure customers. Sportswear
consumers do not have to buy Puma, threatening Puma’s ability to expand its market
or secure customers.
The changing economic situation has brought significant changes to the previously
calm market. This could hamper Puma’s decision to open new offline retail stores
worldwide and be a significant obstacle to their expansion.
Online sales have grown year over year as a result of the expansion of the Internet
and the emergence of online shopping. A significant number of independently owned
brands by online celebrities have formed, particularly in the Chinese market. Their
strategy is to use their own clout and low pricing to entice customers to stick with
their apparel brands. This is surely an unpleasant circumstance for Puma to enter the
Chinese market because the majority of young people currently choose them, which
is highly useful for young people to choose fashion companies.

4 Results and Discussion

From the SWOT analysis of Puma, it can be found that Puma’s overall strengths
outweigh its weaknesses. Puma not only has strong distribution channels and supe-
rior product technology but also uses reasonable prices to attract more middle-class
people and keeps up with fashion trends, using hot social software to promote prod-
ucts. However, Puma is also facing problems such as stronger competitors, a lack
of its own independent advertising, over-reliance on online sales, and uncontrolled
counterfeit products, which are resulting in a loss of customers.
Promotion is very important in the analysis of Puma, and it has a profound
impact on consumer purchase intention. Based on the above analysis of Puma, some
recommendations are made.
In the marketing strategy of Place, Puma cleverly exploited e-commerce strategy to
solve the dilemma brought by the epidemic. Even though the government’s restric-
tions on offline stores are becoming more and more relaxed during the epidemic
period, the operation of online stores can still continue to develop and improve. The
impact of the Puma epidemic on offline stores is described in the literature review.
Well-designed distribution plans can make the company even stronger. In the face of
the adverse impact of the epidemic on Puma’s distribution channels, Puma success-
fully recovered from Puma’s low sales due to the impact of the epidemic to a certain
extent through the good use of its e-commerce channels.
For strong competitors, Puma can stand out from a group of competing products by
increasing technical input and improving the product innovation level. And to resist
counterfeit and shoddy products on the market, Puma can exploit legal weapons to
safeguard its rights and interests through legal channels.
An Analysis of Puma’s Global Marketing in the COVID-19 Era 47

Faced with Puma’s strengths and opportunities, it needs to capture the benefits of
a mid-range price position to stabilize its consumer base. It needs to meet the needs
of the public in the epidemic era for quality and low prices, expand the potential
consumer group, and bring in more revenue. In the face of Puma’s weaknesses and
threats, it needs to constantly innovate new products, cater to new trends, and continue
developing e-commerce in the epidemic era, not to be replaced and enhance customer
loyalty.
One suggestion on promotion is to increase the breadth of the brand; another one
is to increase the depth of the brand. It is clear that the slogan “just do it” of Nike is
deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Puma can also publicize the brand itself.
People can follow the slogan of Puma by always being themselves and having a logo
to promote, so that people can remember the brand’s advertising language and the
brand can have a group of loyal consumers.
And according to the analysis, the effect of the Puma marketing mix theory on
consumers is the same as what is reviewed in the literature. This paper is universal
based on social status, but there may still be exceptions in some countries due to
relevant policies.

5 Conclusion

In the context of the global epidemic era, this paper studies Puma’s marketing strate-
gies and explores how Puma can learn from each other and survive the COVID-19
outbreak. This paper analyzes and summarizes the marketing mix theory, analyzes
Puma from multiple angles with the qualitative analysis method and SWOT model,
and finally concludes that Puma’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses in the pandemic
era, but there is still much to be done. In the current environment, Puma should iden-
tify problems that still exist in the development of the enterprise, to improve the
quality of the products with stable customers, electricity, and other online sales
markets to alleviate the impact of the epidemic outbreak of all kinds of emer-
gencies and their impact on the offline stores to expand brand effectiveness and
strengthen brand propaganda. Today, as a non-top sportswear brand, Puma needs to
meet consumer demand and adapt very quickly to the impact of the epidemic, which
can enable Puma to increase sales and survive.
This paper, to some extent, makes up for the research blank of Puma’s marketing
strategy in the context of the epidemic era and is a practical application of brand
strategy in the clothing industry. The research on Puma can provide a theoretical
basis for the future development of garment enterprises and also help and reference
for other scholars in similar research.
There are a lot of deficiencies in this paper in terms of access to information,
which can refer to less information because content cannot be completely objective
due to the lack of available information. The specific analysis of the market still
has some incomplete considerations. In future research, the accuracy and diversity
48 Z. Pan et al.

of data sources may be assured to improve the quality of the document. Finally,
hopefully this document will provide practical help and referrals for other peers.

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