Working with Puma - More than an Internship it was an Experience!!

During my Masters in International Product and Service Management at Ansbach university of Applied science I decided to pursue an internship. Puma is globally well known & one of the most desirable sports lifestyle company. I totally admired Puma for its distinctive and trendy product lines and it was like a dream come true to get an opportunity to work there which helped me gain valuable experience and knowledge for my career.

I discovered my passion for sports when I was in high school where I played handball and cricket. I was a state level player for handball. Gradually I had desire for adventure sports too. I believe that dedication can be really achieved by doing something you truly love. I always had an inclination towards fashion and huge interest in apparel industry so I decided to apply in Puma at their global headquarter in Herzogenaurach, Germany for an internship in product management. Soon the interviews took place and I was selected as an intern Product Line Management Europe/EEMEA Apparels for men women and kids.

The internship was full time, 40 hours a week. It was really interesting for me as I was asked to work in a team rather than just do separate work as an intern. I was an intern in the Retail SMU (Special make-up unit) department Eurpoe/EEMEA which was a team of 15 people dealing with meeting specific needs of regional merchandisers. I had two managers to report to and they were truly amazing. Since the first day they made me so comfortable and welcomed me with open arms. I started participating in team meetings. They never saw me differently just because I was an intern. It is rightly said that in a company your team members are the learning ropes who teach you the first steps.

A career with Puma in product management gave me a huge insight to the corporate world. Initially I was working with my supervisor on the European outlets where I gained experience and knowledge in taking products from conception to development and into the marketplace. It gave me a great opportunity to acquire strong knowledge of the sourcing business practices. I was responsible for sourcing from foreign markets such as Turkey, China, India, Bangladesh etc and for negotiating prices, quantities, delivery time scales with the suppliers. I also communicated with the key accounts, merchandising, designing, developing and the sourcing teams to ensure smooth product development process. I developed internal process calendar plan which defines the milestones and timelines from product briefing until delivery. The most challenging part was to create huge excel sheets and maintain the product database with lots and lots of data. I had to make sure that each and every detail entered in the system has to be correct or else it will affect our analysis and then everything would go wrong. I created sales reports, analyzed sales patterns, predicted future trends, identified and fulfilled any retail specific needs in order to build strong relationships with regional merchandisers and key accounts. I supported other product line managers on other countries too like India, UK, Italy etc.

I was asked to compile a lot of detailed information on the apparel industry in Europe and one of the main skills I learned and applied was time management. There was always lot of things to be done, lot of deadlines to be met. It's was my own responsibility to prioritise my time: to understand what's important and urgent or important but not urgent and how I can accomplish my tasks in the best manner. I had some difficulties in the beginning because both my managers would ask me to do something. But I never ever said ‘no' to work rather tried managing time and focused on delivering result.

I believe it was a huge responsibility for me to handle all this and moreover the trust my team showed in me kept me motivated with a desire to give the best results. My success at Puma was recognized at a number of occasions, including by giving me charge to handle projects individually on my own within 3 months of joining. I was given an independent charge to handle Blank- Program which was our fast track program in which only selected styles which were produced and delivered very quickly in a span of 3-6weeks. Key accounts could choose their graphics and colours from the available options. In case it was for a promotional event the graphics were customized for them. All this was a different approach to business that I didn't learn at school, something I could only learn during an internship. I also wrote my master thesis in content marketing which illustrated how the major sports brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma are using content marketing to build and strengthen their brand image and what impact they have produced.

 My journey with Puma was not restricted to only work. It was a perfect balance between work and play. The most memorable of all are my Zumba sessions with my supervisor. More than a boss she was my friend. Without her around my entire system would have crashed. I am so grateful to Puma for giving me her as my friend. Our SMU department parties were really famous all over puma. I guess it was the most happening department. We never required an occasion to celebrate, whether it was good or bad day we were always found celebrating. I must also admit the best parties I have ever attended were the ones hosted by Puma specially the Summer and Christmas party. They were really one of a kind.

We also had our interns group. We use to travel together from Nuremberg to Herzogenaurach every morning our way to work and back from work.  I met so many amazing people, many of them who will be my friends for life and have created so many fantastic memories. Our gossips, silly jokes, pulling each other’s legs, travelling around, day dreaming, parties etc. made this journey way too special. They were like family away from home.

  

Bidding a farewell to all of this was really hard for me as being a part of the Puma crew was the most amazing and one of the best experiences of my life. I wish I could turn back time and do it all over again.