Sportswear brand Puma on Thursday unveiled its largest store in north India in Cyber Hub, Gurgaon. This is the second launch by the German company of its digitally-enabled experiential store after one in Bengaluru.
Shoppers would get access to PUMA products on an interactive screen that allows them to virtually scan through the entire range, place an order directly from the warehouse, and have the products delivered to their homes.
The store is spread over about 7,000 sq ft and is a digitally-enabled experiential store with loads of digital touchpoints to attract digitally inclined customers who are increasingly shopping online.
The press report released by Puma stated, “with the country re-opening in full swing, PUMA’s newest store is a significant step by the brand to get closer to its customers. The aim is to create meaningful offline engagement and provide customers with an unprecedented shopping experience.”
A list of celebrities attended the opening event including boxing world champion MC Mary Kom, member of Tokyo Olympics Hockey bronze medal-winning team Rupinder Pal Singh, cricketer Washington Sundar and singer Harrdy Sandhu.
A month ago rival Adidas had also inaugurated a flagship store in New Delhi spread over around 6,000 sq ft in the capital’s premier business district of Connaught Place.
US-based Nike Inc. is also planning to launch its largest India store of about 10,000 sq ft in New Delhi’s Select Citywalk, according to sources on a similar note.
Commenting on the launch of the store, Abhishek Ganguly, Managing Director, PUMA India and Southeast Asia said, “It has always been our endeavor to not only create an immersive shopping experience around the brand and the products, but also strengthen our market relevance by staying ahead of the curve in the smart retail era. Coming up with our flagship store in Delhi-NCR is a testimony to our commitment to athletes and fitness enthusiasts that the region promises. We are equally committed to providing the best digital experience as part of both our offline and online retail channels.”
The store will showcase limited-edition global collaborations and a top-of-the-line performance range for men, women and children throughout the year, providing a “best in class” retail experience to its customers.
The experiential store would consist of an F1 Simulator, where shoppers can enjoy professional-grade F1 racing simulators to virtually navigate multi-country tracks.
The PUMA x YOU section consists of a state-of-the-art embroidery and printing machine. The personalisation studio allows consumers to customise and personalise PUMA footwear, apparel and accessories using paints, dips, dyes, patchwork, embroidery, 3D knitting, laser printing, and pinning.
The Store also promises an “elevated store experience”. The art-inspired one-floor layout comes with a wall mural that doubles up as a game for shoppers to win freebies. The wall art has been executed by young art influencer Amrai Dua Dewan, who features in the list of India’s top 100 women illustrators.