Big shoes for new agent to fill
Gustav Nefdt follows in dad’s Puma footsteps
GUSTAV Nefdt is the newly appointed Puma Sportswear agent for the Eastern Cape and with a growing shoe and apparel market at his feet, he has plenty of shoes to fill. Confident of growth potential in the sports apparel and footwear market, Nefdt is gearing up to inject new energy into the highly competitive industry through the Nefdt family’s Port Elizabeth-based Martin Nefdt Agencies.
Nefdt, 33, recently took over the reins from his industry legend father, former Springbok cyclist Martin Nefdt, who will continue to back his son with his more than 30 years’ experience in the sector.
Speaking from their new showroom facility off Walmer Boulevard, the amicable young Nefdt sketched a picture of a dynamic sportswear retail sector and an extensive geographic market.
This stretches from Swellendam in the Western Cape to Mthatha on the Eastern Cape’s northeastern border, to Aliwal North to the northwest.
Puma’s retail market catchment in that region is about 160 stores, with more than 60 doing highvolume business with Martin Nefdt Agencies.
And while Port Elizabeth serves as Puma’s hub for the region, East London, according to Nefdt, has a bigger market for the brand.
“There is certainly good growth potential in both the South African market as a whole and specifically in the Eastern Cape region,” he said.
“From a Puma point of view, the primary sector is the sports sector, where sports shoes are a big focus for us. Lifestyle shoes and apparel are the other major market for us.
“The women’s market is one segment in particular where we see good growth potential.”
Martin Nefdt had served as the Eastern Cape sales agent for Adidas for 18 years and in the same capacity for Puma for a further 12 years, before handing leadership of the agency to Gustav.
“Rugby and football are among the main focus areas here in the Eastern Cape and we are putting much of our energies into the youth market,” the younger Nefdt said.
“That is not only because of the size of the youth market, but because it gives us the opportunity to develop that market and to develop brand loyalty in that market.
“Towards this, we place a lot of focus on schools and the university market.
“There is a substantial number of students who come from rural areas in the Eastern Cape, who have not had much exposure to big brands.
“Tying in with the university students therefore gives us access to the student market and will help to grow the brand in the longer term.”
He revealed that besides a number of local brand ambassador and sponsorship programmes, the company also sponsored the Bulls rugby team.
“For them, we have to get boots of up to size 14 and 15,” he said when asked what the most common size shoe was that the company marketed and distributed to the mainstream market.
“But for the rest of South Africa, the scenario is more interesting.
“We have found that every province is different. In the Western Cape, we distribute on average much smaller shoes and in other parts of the country, the most common size sold can be size 10,” he said.
“I am excited about the Puma brand going forward. We will focus on growing the business, particularly from the youth up, while maintaining and growing our existing markets and retailers.
“There is also plenty of growth potential on the clothing side, and specifically on the hi-tech apparel end.”