The Big Question: Money or Marketing?

BIGGETS, BRIGHTEST, loudest, highest profile. It doesn’t really matter which superlative you choose, any of them could be applied to the purveyors of sportswear/athleisure on London’s Oxford Street.

This is a retail arena in which the big(gest) brands are involved in an arms race, all aimed at reminding us of the fact that if you happen to buy their wares you will be accepted everywhere. Now Puma has appeared on the mile-long track with a store that features a massive, glazed frontage, the upper portion of which houses a giant screen, setting the scene for what lies within.

It joins Adidas, Under Armour and, of course, Nike. All of them have a flagship on Oxford Street and it a measure of the mano a mano nature of what’s going on that the Nike store on Oxford Street is only temporary (it is located in a store that was formerly occupied by Microsoft), in place while the Niketown behemoth undergoes a two-year makeover.

The obvious question in all of this is whether these stores are about shifting vast amounts of merchandise or are they instead gargantuan 3-D billboards? The answer is probably somewhere between the two. Niketown first opened at Oxford Circus more than a quarter of a century ago and in that time, there has always been a question mark over how the Oregon-based brand can justify such a large building in one of the most expensive places to trade from in the world.

In truth, it’s not about justification. Oxford Street, a little like Fifth Avenue, is about presence and if you’re not there, the view may be taken that you don’t count.

Back to Puma then. It is now away from the starter’s blocks in a race in which the finish line is invisible. The point perhaps is that when the millions of Oxford Street visitors head for home they may, or may not, take home a pair of Speedcats, but they will retain a memory of how important the brand is, simply because of where it is.