Pandora (jewelry)

Pandora was founded in 1982 by Danish goldsmith Per Enevoldsen and, his then wife, Winnie Enevoldsen. The pair began on a small scale by importing jewellery from Thailand and selling to consumers.[2] After a successful wholesale venture, in 1989 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 jewellery for the mass market. Pandora's collection grew to include an assortment of rings, necklaces, earrings and watches. Pandora started selling its signature bracelets in 2000 after a patent and several years of development.[3]

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.[4] 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 jewellery company in terms of sales, after Cartier and Tiffany & Co.[2] In 2011, more than one piece of Pandora jewellery was sold every second on average.[5] 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 11.9 billion and net profit in excess of DKK 3 billion in 2014.[6]

Toronto, Fairview Mall Branch

Hong Kong, YOHO Mall Branch

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.[5] Pandora products are sold in more than 100 countries on six continents through approximately 7,800 points of sale, including approximately 2,400 concept stores.[7] The company employs over 22,300 people, of whom 13,200 are located in Gemopolis, Thailand, the company's sole manufacturing site since 1989.[8]

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.[9]

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.[6] In 2015, it bought out Oracle Investment's shares in its Chinese distribution service.[10]

• Media related to Pandora (jewellery) at Wikimedia Commons
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• reuters.com