Pandora will no longer be sold at Jared, ending a long-standing relationship that was once significant for both parties.
Pandora spokesperson Johan Melchior tells JCK:
Since 2018, Signet has embarked on a strategy with focus on other brands than Pandora. As a natural consequence of the strategy, Signet plans to exit the partnership with Pandora within the next 12 months.
The impact for Pandora will be negligible as our sales to Jared have decreased substantially in recent years. Current annual run rate sales are less than ¼% of our total revenue. There is clear overlap in the location of Jared’s stores and our own stores, so the change is expected to lead to improved performance of our own stores.
Signet spokesperson David Bouffard tells JCK:
As a part of our Path to Brilliance strategy, we are focused on Customer First, OmniChannel, and a Culture of Agility. Our new merchandising strategy is based on product newness. We found our customers reacted favorably to this strategy as our results showed, with new-product percentage of fourth quarter sales of 31.8%.
Jared first began testing Pandora in 2008. It soon rolled out the brand to almost all Jared stores and developed advertising specifically touting the brand.
“[Pandora’s] consumer is typically a female self-purchaser who has never visited a Jared before,” Signet’s chief executive officer Terry Burman told analysts in 2009. “They often come in groups, and the nature of the product encourages them to return to Jared over and over again.”
In 2010, Signet called Pandora a “top-selling jewelry line” at Jared. But some at Signet thought those sales came with a cost, arguing they gave male buyers “permission” to buy a much lower-priced item than they typically would.
In 2015, Jared added 250 Pandora shop-in-shops, significantly expanding the brand’s footprint at the chain. Those upgrades came after Jared began carrying rival charm brand Alex and Ani—a move that legal filings said Pandora “communicated [its] dissatisfaction about.” In the end, Alex and Ani didn’t meet expectations at Signet, and the two parties landed in litigation.
In the last year, Pandora has embarked on an ambitious rebranding designed to boost consumer demand for its signature charms. In addition, after years of focusing on its own stores, it has shown interest in reinvigorating its once-formidable network of multibrand retailers.
However, it appears that won’t include Jared. Jared’s site is now touting a “last chance” sale on Pandora inventory.
(Image courtesy of Signet)
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