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Questions and Answers with Darren McCormick, Pandora UK’s Managing Director Q. Tell us about your strategy for Pandora in the UK? A. First of all finding the office staff was the most important task in order to develop Pandora in the correct manner in the UK. It was crucial to have the right members of staff to serve the retailers who sell the brand. Our success has been based on the high standards of service we have been able to deliver.
However, the most important feature of Pandora is that our products encapsulate unforgettable moments in time. As a consequence, our products represent more than a financial value to our customers as they also hold a priceless sentimental value which really can’t be rivalled as it’s personalised down to each specific customer. This is hard for our competition to replicate.
The next key task was to find the right agents to develop the business. This has been the hardest task so far. These people are responsible for taking Pandora to the next level and so they are required to have exactly the right skills, experience and attitude, to deliver the growth we have planned. Pandora agents are different from any jewellery agent as their main objective is to support and facilitate the stores we acquire.
Q. What type of retailer are your looking for to sell Pandora? A. Our primary target is to be in A1 Jewellers and be found only in jewellery stores. We are wanting to be placed in independent jewellers. These jewellers are the most important to us as they take Pandora to their hearts and champion the brand, whilst showing amazing devotion to the continued success of Pandora UK.
My strategy was to next make Pandora known to all the jewellery stores throughout the UK. As of yet, this is a task we have not yet quite accomplished. In July of this year we initiated a vigorous PR campaign through a specialist marketing company to target the end consumer. IJL is also a large part of our strategy as we realise the importance of IJL to promote our name and make ourselves known throughout the industry. This year we are going all out to achieve this as we have acquired one of the biggest stands at IJL and we are doing this two years earlier than planned. Q. Why does a Pandora Agent need to be different. A. We are not like a typical jewellery company with two new ranges a year. We just keep adding to our collection of beads as we try to bring out new products all the time. This helps keep our market position at the beginning of the product life cycle. Pandora agents are required to regularly visit stores. The retail support they provide comes in the form of training new staff on the Pandora Concept, setting up window displays, assisting with displays inside the shop, offering a network of support services, advising on the product range and helping to organise Pandora events. From our past history, we are 100% certain that this time spent nurturing stores drastically helps improve their takings year upon year. The Pandora agent plays a major part in helping stores become successful, gone are the days, when an agents only obligation is to sell. Q. Why is Pandora different from your competitors? A. We call our competitors the ‘Pandora Wannabes’ as they wish they could match the quality, detail, emotion, originality and the unforgettable moments surrounding our products. The conceptual story of Pandora sets us aside from our competitors and so does the age old legend of Pandora’s Box. We have created more than a label, we are a brand. Q. Recently a lot of jewellery companies have tried to emulate the brand, what do you think about this? A. This was bound to happen like any other product that has an amazing selling record like Pandora’s. Pandora is a collectable product which encourages high footfall and repeat purchases for retailers, thus there will always be imitators who want to emulate this success
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P a n d o r a m o n i u m fever spreads throughout the uk
PANDORA Supports IJL
Q. You are now in your third set of offices since you started Pandora, why is this? A. Our first offices were adequate enough for when we started Pandora but we have taken off so quickly we have had to adapt as a company very quickly. With this dramatic growth, we had to extend our first offices from 1200sq feet to 1500sq feet, but honestly this was nowhere near enough space.
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andora has spread rapidly throughout the UK. It’s success has been unprecedented and we fully expect this trend in the UK to continue. In the last year alone Pandora UK grew by a staggering 454%. This growth is exceptional and Pandora UK have been adapting on a daily basis, since its formation over two years ago, to meet this unbelievable demand.
I decided there and then that I must prepare for our long term future so I decided to have a purpose built building created for Pandora. In the short term we moved to a temporary 5000sq feet unit until our new two floor 8500sq feet unit was ready. Now these state of the art offices allow us to take Pandora to another level. The new purpose built offices have a shop in shop set up contained within them, we have installed 10 phone lines for now and the future, we have our gym for all our staff to use and because its a completely new building we have named it Pandora House.
The success of Pandora has been attributed to the Pandora Bracelet. This bracelet allows you to create your own Pandora piece by purchasing beads, clips, and spacers to personally customise your own personalisable fashion accessory. The bracelets encapsulate the customers unforgettable moments in their life and locks them in time.
Q. Tell us about the now legendary ‘house party’ event that you have just held? A. We had exclusive use of a hotel in the Lake District of Cumbria for a couple of great days called the ‘Samling’. This prestigious hotel has recently been voted the best hotel in the UK. We had all the hotel rooms all to ourselves including all meals and drinks. It felt like Christmas day all over again. I could not walk after the nine course meal we all had. Q. What were the reasons for holding this event? A. At Pandora we are always trying to think outside the box. We held this event as a personal thank you to our loyal customers for championing the Pandora brand. Without their continuing support and tireless work to retail Pandora to the consumer we would not be the success we are today. The two days allowed me to divulge to the retailers the full background on Pandora and Pandora UK. They could also meet the Pandora team face to face and I could relay our intentions for the future. Overall, it was an excellent success and I gained excellent feedback from those who attended this event. I will of course be planning more events like this in the future.
TO CELEBRATE PANDORA’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY WE ARE GIVING YOU THE CHANCE TO WIN A PANDORA STARTER BRACELET For Your chance to win Answer the following question Pandora recently hosted an event at a prestigious hotel, how many courses were served at this event? To enter visit: www.pandorauk.com/IJLCompetition
IJL INTERNATIONAL JEWELLERY LONDON
We have a beautiful designed product which deserves its rightful place beside all the leading brands of watches and jewellery.
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Pandora the vision “Pandora has the potential to be the leading jewellery brand in the UK but only if I can match the quality of the product to the customer service. I need to make my vision very clear that, the success of Pandora depends on providing the very best possible service to our customers and retailers. This is not only to maximise the sales potential of each store but also to meet and exceed the expectations of existing and potential customers in a modern customer environment. I reiterate it is this customer service that is absolutely paramount to bringing the long term success to Pandora UK” Pandora UK’s Managing Director Darren McCormick
“WITH A FIRST CLASS APPROACH TO CUSTOMER SERVICE, WE AT PANDORA CONSTANTLY STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE. PANDORA IS ALWAYS THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX”
Pandora’s jewellery collection is dedicated to women with hope, vision and the courage to make a difference in our world, just like Pandora before us. “The last two years have been an amazing success. We have gone from wishing the phone would ring to the phone being constantly off the hook and our sales forecasts ripped up in a matter of months.” Darren McCormick, Pandora UK Managing Director
Pandora Jewellery reflects the values of hope and opportunity. These principles are apparent through the classic immortal tale of Pandora. The time spanning legend relays, when Pandora’s Box was opened in the ancient Greek tale, all the evils of the world flew out providing the people at the time with hope and opportunity for the future. Pandora thus represents choice as she controlled whether the box should be opened and this notion of choice dominates the Pandora Jewellery range. With over 2.5 billion different combinations to wear Pandora’s jewellery collection, this makes the range truly unique and allows you to express your own personal style.
PANDORA IS MOVING TO NEW PREMISES Expanding to new horizons... Pandora is on the move. Pandora is relocating to brand new purpose built offices with 8500 sq. ft. of office space spread over two floors located in the North East. This move is due to the massive increase in the sales of Pandora Jewellery. The new office will provide the perfect platform to allow Pandora to continue to grow. Pandora’s General Manager, Julie Davis, says: “Pandora is moving forward. We are now in our third and last premises. This move will allow us to take Pandora to the next level”. The offices create an excellent working environment for Pandora employees as they contain fully equipped gym facilities. This provides the perfect combination of work and relaxation for Pandora’s employees. These contemporary offices are crucial to our long term future and we have decided to name the building Pandora house.
Pandora Jewellery is a Universe of Jewellery
Pandora is again attending IJL and showing our support for the biggest & most renowned jewellery exhibition found anywhere in the UK. It is Pandora’s mission to make Pandora the largest and best supplier of jewellery found anywhere throughout the UK. In conjunction with this, Pandora is constantly moving forward and so we see IJL as a key exhibition to promote and highlight our success. We believe IJL can help develop our networking potential and we hope in return this will lead to further sales of Pandora, as we use IJL to advertise and showcase our brand. We also use our knowledgeable Pandora agents and brilliant in-house team to display & promote the Pandora range at the exhibition. This helps satisfy any queries potential customers may have surrounding the brand. IJL is always a great success for Pandora and so in return we pledge our support to IJL by attending the exhibition every year.
The success of Pandora UK
Pandora UK originated in the UK in mid 2005. Since then Pandora has enjoyed rapid success in the UK market place. Pandora has caught the consumers imagination and set the world of Pandora alight. Since its formation in 2005, Pandora UK has acquired around 120 jewellery retailers who are drawn to the quality, image and unforgettable moments of the Pandora range. In the last year alone, Pandora UK’s growth has exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations.
Darren reports: “Pandora is successful as it provides choices for the customer and it places them as the main focal point to this retail experience. Pandora is aimed at women with individuality, strength and most importantly style”.
Pandora donates all profits from the Breast Cancer Bead to Charity Pandora UK believes in supporting worthy causes and there are none more so than Breast Cancer Care. In conjunction with this, Pandora retails special breast cancer beads in our range.
The fairytale of Pandora’s success with global reach began in a basement in Copenhagen, Denmark. Today Pandora Jewellery is renowned for its unsurpassed workmanship and stylish design and not least for the way it casts lifes unforgettable moments in silver and gold. When founded in 1982 no one envisaged that the small company would become an international jewellery giant within a few years. Pandora’s transition from a Copenhagen side street to now being sold in shops from Australia to San Francisco is nothing short of inspirational.
In todays competitive environment it is increasingly important for global companies to have one face around the world. Pandora’s retail concept is to effectively brand Pandora through a set of guidelines which will uniformly create all Pandora products and Shop in Shop support processes to be the same around the world. Pandora’s retail concept has five formats from branded Pandora Shops (Shop in Shop and Concept Stores) to multi brand Jewellery retailers (White, Silver and Gold). Pandora Shop in Shop: The Shop in Shop is a clearly defined space in a shop or department store which is dedicated to Pandora. The Shop in Shop has Pandora fittings and displays. It also carries a wide assortment of Pandora products (at least 85% of the design line). The shop in shop will typically look very much like the Concept shop on the inside (except smaller) typically without the Pandora branded shop front.
^ Pandora Concept Shop
White Partner: White partners are those multi brand retailers that carry a limited assortment of at least one design range (at least 50% of it). White partners do not significantly contribute to profiling Pandora in the shop. White Partners are required to have basic Pandora displays in the shop, but are not required to have Pandora fittings - white partners receive the basic level of support from Pandora. Silver Partner: Silver partners are multi brand retailers which carry a medium assortment of one Pandora design line as a minimum (at least 75%). Silver partners also have Pandora branded fittings in the shop, but to a lesser extent than a gold partner. Silver partners receive a wide range of benefits from Pandora. ^ Pandora Shop in Shop
Pandora Concept Shop: The concept shop is essentially a Pandora branded jewellery shop. Concept shops carry the full assortment of Pandora products. The concept shop has a branded Pandora store front including a shop front sign with contemporary Pandora displays. Concept shops have the opportunity to be authorised Pandora Online retailers.
Gold Partner: Gold Partners are much like multi brand retailers with a strong Pandora profile. Gold Partners carry a large assortment of all Pandora design lines (at least 75%). Gold partners have a dedicated store space and are equipped with Pandora fittings and displays. Gold partners receive many of the same benefits as branded shops.
The North East Leads the way in Pandora Sales “The Northeast a recipe for success!” Since its emergence in 2005, Pandora UK has quickly developed a stronghold in the Northeast of England. Pandora UK is achieving fantastic sales in the region and there exists a real excitement surrounding the product in the Northeast. As testament to this, seven out of the top ten Pandora retailing customers across the whole country can be found in the Northeast.
The success in the Northeast has arisen as With the sale of those beads, Pandora these retailers strongly champion the brand UK plans to donate all the profits made and they make good investment in their from these beads to the registered stock. Pandora is founded on the concept breast cancer charity. As our range is of choice and so that is what our Northeast dedicated to inspirational women, we retailers aspire to provide the customer. Our believe this charity embodies those who buy our products as the charity customers reiterate, when ordering, it is is founded upon inspirational people, important to not only order stock that you whom display strength and courage in have sold out of but also to order something the face of lifes adversities. you have not had in stock before. These The breast cancer care charity certainly high performing customers keep healthy represents these most admirable stocks of each bead and they also alternate qualities as these people work tirelessly the bead trays to display different types and to provide a better quality of life for others as well as helping to reduce the numbers of women suffering from breast combinations of beads. They also make up cancer. different variations of bracelets to allow the Why not purchase one of our breast cancer beads and help an extremely worthy customer to visualise the bracelets in their cause?
Pandora’s Anniversary
One vision, One brand, One concept
This success according to Pandora UK’s Managing Director Darren McCormick, is due to the fact that there are around 2.5 billion combinations to wearing Pandora and this number is still growing.
final form and as a consequence of this they may immediately want to purchase a particular design. It is about providing the customer excellent choice. It is about keeping the product new, exciting and fresh for the consumer, via delivering them a wide choice of innovative products and allowing them access to the full range. In store, these retailers are putting the systems in place to provide Pandora the very best platform to trade from. All sales employees have very good knowledge of Pandora regarding creating a bracelet and once again they have developed a keen insight into all the beads, whether current, new or planned. These stores realise the importance of training new staff regarding the Pandora concept and how to formulate the bracelet. The sales people also wear Pandora which we feel is an important part of promoting Pandora in store. All the top performing Northeast stores have a good level of window presence for Pandora and they provide good floor space inside the store. This enables the Pandora name to be prominent in the store and it
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25 years of unforgettable moments
PANDORA RETAIL CONCEPT
This astonishing runaway success pays testament to the appeal of Pandora. Demand for Pandora in the UK is growing frantically on a daily basis and a buzz element is surrounding this popular brand.
Pandora is also not just a roaring success with customers, but with retailers too, as Pandora creates repeat custom for stores as dedicated customers return to purchase the new must have items for their collection.
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allows regular as well as potential customers to have easy access to the Pandora range, not to mention as well as displaying the kind of image Pandora UK wishes to seek. The main essence of the success is trying to create that initial buzz factor in your area, as when the customer discovers Pandora her universal charm, quality and unique appeal helps draw them back time and time again. The stores also use point of sale where possible to deliver the full retail experience to the customer. This provides high quality after sale services for the customer and adds the finishing touches to purchasing such elegant products. Northeast retailers really get behind and support the brand. They provide high levels of support and display commitment towards the brand. They attend local trade shows, as well as events promoting Pandora and they also run excellent local advertising in the form of radio and print format.
The companies success has been founded on Pandora’s rare ability to touch women’s inner most dreams and to take the little miracles in their lives and cast these memories in the jewellery we create. This has given Pandora Jewellery a unique place in women’s hearts all over the globe. A cornerstone to the success of Pandora has been the centre piece bracelets, which have enabled women all over
the world to carry their own personal memento of lifes unforgettable moments on their wrists or around their neck. A finely crafted layer cake for your child’s birthday, a swelling heart for that intoxicating crush or a little suitcase for an exotic holiday, These are just a few unforgettable moments to collect in Pandora’s famous selection of bracelets and necklaces. After 25 years in the international jewellery arena. Pandora Jewellery as a brand is celebrating its 25th anniversary. These celebrations are being matched with a complete set of elegant jewellery consisting of a ring, a pair of earrings, a necklace and naturally a unique charm for Pandora’s classic bracelet. Every piece is formed with of 14k Gold and decorated with 0.25 carat (in total) of perfectly polished diamonds. The exclusive set will be sold in shops until the end of 2008.
How to form your Pandora bracelet All Pandora jewellery pieces are hand crafted with love and care. Pandora jewellery begins with a blank bracelet/chain. These come in 14k gold, sterling silver and oxidized forms. Next, you choose from a wide range of beads, gemstones, spacers and clips to add to your Pandora bracelet/chain. This enables you to personally customise your piece and partake in this unrivalled experience. Pandora bracelets are divided into three sections so that the beads can be distributed evenly due to the unique patented threading system. Once a bead has been passed over the end, the bead can be positioned in either section by moving the bead separator. These sections can be reinforced by a variety of decorative beads that clip onto the bracelet.
suit different occasions. The charms come in sterling silver, silver with precious stones, silver with gold and pure gold. Each bead is designed to reflect an unforgettable moment such as a birthstone bead for birthdays and a friendship bead for that special person. No two bracelets will ever be the same.
The Pandora range allows you to easily create a stylish and individual charm bracelet to
What the consumers think about Pandora “Pandora is a unique and affordable product. It is a very different product to many on the market. Customers like the idea that every bracelet is different and the range caters something for everyone. Pandora has just taken over the whole of my shop.” JH Collinson, Sunderland “Pandora has been a great success for us. Pandora is a different product and there is no other bracelet on the market like it. The bracelets are lovely and the quality is great.” Kings Jewellers, Washington “I have been an agent with Pandora UK for the last 2 years working in the North East of England. During my time as an agent with Pandora I have found the product to have unique appeal and charm. I believe Pandora to be a versatile product, suitable for any occasion.” Karen Moore, Pandora Agent
For more products please see The Pandora Catalogue
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