Pandora embarks on ERP transformation to meet the new reality in retail

Strong retail brands everywhere compete to serve a new customer mindset, to build and extend brand relationships and fulfil new expectations towards a seamless and personalised shopping experience online and in stores.

Everything available everywhere all the time

Pandora designs, manufactures and markets contemporary jewellery at affordable prices and has an ambitious growth strategy in place, which will be fully implemented by 2026. The Phoenix strategy is built around four growth pillars: brand, design, personalisation and core markets - all centred around the overall objective for Pandora to be the largest and most desirable brand in the affordable jewellery market. Their growth ambitions are in turn enabled by a holistic digitalisation strategy spanning across Pandora operations. One of its key elements is to establish a new, lean digital core with SAP S/4HANA Cloud as the company’s new ERP system.

“After a turnaround period where we needed to reconnect with our core customers and focus on core Pandora DNA and products such as the Moments bracelet and charms, we are now at a scaling stage” said David Walmsley, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Pandora and continues “the main focus of the ERP transformation will be Finance, anything to do with Inventory and the end-to-end business processes reflecting the Customer Experience”.

True omnichannel with the same customer experience worldwide

When fully implemented by 2026, SAP will enable Pandora to offer their customers an omnichannel experience with seamless transactions and interactions online and in stores. Pandora customers will be able see the inventory of available products in real time and avoid situations where a certain product appears to be available in the store, but no longer is, as is sometimes the case if the three current systems are not synchronised. This will tie well into recent improvement initiatives launched by Pandora such as click & collect, shop online and pick up in store – to deliver a truly delightful omnichannel shopping experience.

Pandora jewellery is sold in more than 100 countries through 6,400 points of sale, including more than 2,400 concept stores.

“With SAP S/4HANA for Retail, SAP Customer Activity Repository (CAR) and SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and other digital improvements laid out as part of our digitalisation strategy we will be able to offer the same customer experience all around the world. When the system is fully rolled out shipping details and availability will no longer depend on where in the world the customer is located instead, they will be able to find the same availability of jewellery and individual suggestions for what pieces to purchase no matter from where they shop, said David Walmsley and continues:

“Some talk about “taking away the pain of shopping”, but at Pandora we want to celebrate shopping and make it a personal experience where we, due to SAP technology and our other digital tools, understand you, surprise you and delight you. We are in the business of selling memories, so for Pandora combining store and technology is where the magic happens. If we do this right, we are not only creating convenience for our customers, we are creating brand ambassadors”.

Pandora has partnered up with Accenture to support them on their SAP S/4HANA Cloud journey. The key focus area for Pandora is to build a lean digital core to support their ambitious growth plan across the world. This includes managing operational data, increasing transparency, and improving productivity across the entire organisation, inventory and franchise stores.