For the eighth consecutive quarter, Pandora Australia achieved an increase of more than 20 per cent for overall revenue and same-store sales for its brand-only – or ‘concept’ – stores. The jewellery brand recorded a 28.2 per cent rise in revenue to DKK194 million (AU$37.1 m) as well as a 24.6 per cent lift in same-store sales, compared to the previous year.
Pandora Australia president David Allen described the quarter as “a great start to our financial year for our team and all of our partners [retail stockists]”.
While Allen said charms and bracelets continued to perform “extremely well”, he noted that rings had proven a stand-out category, with sales increasing 58 per cent on the previous year – accounting for more than 20 per cent of Pandora Australia’s revenue.
This was a continuation of the product category’s performance in the fourth quarter of 2014, where it was noted that, for the first time, rings had contributed more revenue in Australia than bracelets.
Allen added that the Valentine’s Day trading period had been “very successful”, and that the company’s first major seasonal collection, which was launched in March, also largely contributed to the positive result.
In March, Jeweller reported that Pandora had started an international roll-out of ‘new look’ stores in order to improve customer service. Allen confirmed that four stores in Australia had adopted the new “evolution” design to date. He also noted that two regional brand-only stores had opened this year – one in Ballarat, Victoria and another in Lismore, NSW – with “terrific” results.
There are currently 91 Pandora brand-only stores in Australia, which includes franchisee and company-owned outlets.
Positive international results
Pandora achieved similarly strong results at a global level, with a 22.3 per cent overall group revenue increase to DKK3.5 billion (AU$675.4 million) in local currency terms compared to 2014.
This was fuelled by a double-digit year-on-year rise in revenue across all regions – Asia-Pacific by 34.9 per cent to DKK557 million (AU$106.4 m), Europe by 28.5 per cent to DKK1.4 billion (AU$270.7 million), and the Americas by 12.8 per cent to DKK1.6 billion (AU$300.6 million).
Anders Friis, who succeeded Allan Leighton as Pandora CEO in March this year, commented, “Revenue growth was driven by strong like-for-like sales-out growth in many markets as well as the continued expansion of our concept store network. Furthermore, the profitability in the company continues to be very healthy, which is also evident from the strong cashflow generation in the quarter.”
Pandora has increased its revenue guidance from DKK14 billion (AU$2.7 b) to more than DKK15 billion (AU$2.9 b), and plans to open more than 325 brand-only stores in 2015 compared to the 300 previously anticipated.
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