This article is about a Danish jewellery manufacturer and retailing company. For the Greek myth, see Pandora. For other uses, see Pandora (disambiguation).
Pandora A/S (often styled PANDORA) is a Danish jewelry manufacturer and retailer founded in 1982 by Per Enevoldsen.[8] The company started as a family-run jewelry shop in Copenhagen.
Pandora is known for its customizable charm bracelets, designer rings, earrings, necklaces and (now discontinued) watches. The company has two production sites in Thailand and markets its products in more than 100 countries on six continents with more than 6,700 points of sale.
History
Former logo, used until October 2019
Pandora was founded in 1982 by Danish goldsmith Per Enevoldsen and, his then-wife, Winnie Enevoldsen.[9] The pair began on a small scale by importing jewelry from Thailand and selling to consumers.[10]
In 1987, the company ended its retail operations and became a pure wholesaler; two years later Enevoldsen hired in-house designers and established a manufacturing site in Thailand, where it is still located. With low production costs and an efficient supply chain, the Enevoldsens could provide affordable, hand-finished jewelry for the mass market. Pandora's collection grew to include an assortment of rings, necklaces, earrings and watches. It started selling its signature charm bracelets in 2000 after several years of development, protected by a patent.[11]
The Danish private equity group Axcel bought a 60% stake in the company from the Enevoldsen family in 2008. Shares totalling DKK 9.96 billion(US$ 1.84 billion) were sold in an IPO in October 2010, one of the biggest IPOs in Europe that year, giving Pandora a market capitalisation of around DKK 27 billion.[12] The company is publicly listed on the NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen Stock Exchange in Denmark and is a component of the OMX Copenhagen 20 index.
Pandora became the world's third-largest jewelry company in terms of sales, after Cartier and Tiffany & Co.[10] In 2011, more than one piece of Pandora jewelry was sold every second on average.[13]
Shares fell nearly 80% in 2011 after a shift in focus to higher-end designs alienated core customers, but performance recovered after a return to the more affordable mass market, with the group reporting revenue of DKK 19 billion and net profit in excess of DKK 3 billion in 2014.[14] In 2020 and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 80% of Pandora's 2,700 stores around the world were closed. However, the company kept paying to all its staff in full, even for those who used to work in the closed stores.[15]
In early May 2021, Pandora announced the company would phase out mined diamonds in favour of gems manufactured in a laboratory. The new diamond jewelry was first sold in the United Kingdom before being sold globally in 2022.[16]
Pandora is one of the world's largest jewelry brands with 19 billion Danish kroner in revenue and a retail network of around 2,700 stores.
In early June 2020, Pandora had announced that all Pandora jewelry would be made from recycled silver and gold due to many reasons such as substantially reduce its greenhouse gas emission. [17] In early 2025, Pandora anticipates to stop using newly mined gold and silver and only purchase recycled sources.[18]
Products
Pandora offers a variety of products, such as their bracelets, rings, earrings, charms and now their discontinued watches. The types of metals Pandora offers is sterling silver, 14k rose gold-plated and 14k gold-plated.
Bracelets: Pandora offers several different types of bracelets. You can choose from customizable charm bracelets to sleek bangles coming in sterling silver, 14k rose gold-plated, and 14k gold-plated.[19] Pandora offers bracelets such as Pandora Moments, Reflexions, ME, and other different types of bracelets. They range from bangles to snake chains to sliding to leather. [20]
Necklaces: Pandora has several options that can be chosen from a simple chain to a bold pendant. You can chose from hand-finished sterling silver, 14k rose gold-plated, and 14k gold-plated.[21] The sizes for necklaces range from 15 in to 35.4in. Pandora's chokers come in one size and are adjustable, and ME necklaces come in one size and are not adjustable.[22]
Rings: Pandora rings come in several styles, such as stackable, promise rings, birthstone rings, and so much more. They offer sterling silver, 14k rose gold-plated, 14k gold-plated, and lab-grown diamonds.[23] Pandora goes by European ring sizes from 44 to 64. In the US is from 3 to 10.5 ring size in women. [24]
Earrings: Pandora's earrings offer studs and hoops in many different styles. You can choose from sterling silver, 14k gold-plated, and 14k rose gold-plated. [25]
Charms: Pandora's charms are one of the reasons they are well known and are offered in many different styles, form symbols, family and friends, love, nature and celestial, celebration, birthday, Disney, etc. They offer 14k gold-plated, 14k rose gold-plated, and sterling silver charms. They also offer engraving at an additional cost with some of the engravable charms. [26]
Corporate sustainability efforts
Inside of a Pandora store
Pandora's CEO, Alexander Lacik, announced that they would no longer use mined diamonds for any of their new designs and would phase into lab-grown diamonds. Pandora's first released collection of synthetic stones was released in Britain in 2021 and would later be used in other markets by 2022.[27]
The introduction of lab-grown diamonds was to provide consumers with affordable and sustainable diamonds. This transition would lead us to less environmental damage and less danger for the workers. Comparing mined and lab-grown diamonds reveals that they are essentially identical.[28]
In 2020, Pandora announced it would source to recycled silver and gold for its collections. Working with mined metals, Pandora would no longer dig deeper in search of new material, which would allow the company to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions substantially.[29] By the beginning of 2025, Pandora plans to use recycled gold and silver. This aims to reducing CO2 and better the environment.[30]
Distribution network
Sales of the Pandora brand began in Europe and it first entered North America in 2003. The company opened concept stores around the world before its franchising model began in Australia in 2009.[13]
Pandora products are sold in more than 100 countries on six continents through approximately 6,700 points of sale, including approximately 2,400 concept stores.[31] The company employs over 26,000 people, of whom 13,200 are located in Thailand, the company's sole manufacturing site since 1989.[32]
Pandora launched an online sales platform in Europe in 2011, and began working to expand its e-commerce to the majority of its markets including Australia.[33]
Europe and the United States accounted for nearly 90% of group sales in 2014. The group announced a Chinese distribution deal in 2015, with plans to increase store numbers to "a couple of hundred" in China.[14] In 2015, it bought out Oracle Investment's shares in its Chinese distribution service.[34]
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