Since Puma is based in Germany and sells the majority of its products in Europe, Puma is not as dependent on the American economy as some of its competitors like Nike. Furthermore, Puma is rapidly expanding into emerging markets like China in order to help fuel its growth despite slowing consumer spending in many of its mature markets like Europe.
Puma is working to expand its retail operations, which grew by about 18% during 2007. This move represents Puma's attempt to increase its margins by selling its products directly through its company-owned retail channels. Although these expansion efforts are quite costly, the future payoffs in terms of sales growth and gross margins may be weill worth the initial investment.