E-commerce contributed to Pandora Jewelry's important sales in China

Recently, the famous Danish jewelry brand, Pandora, announced that in the first quarter of this fiscal year, despite a depressed North American market, the rapid growth in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in the Chinese market helped Pandora achieve a 9% increase in the first quarter.

In China, Pandora has opened 59 concept stores in the past 12 months, and in the fourth quarter of 2016, they developed the e-commerce business on the company's official website, also setting up a distribution center in China. This series of actions has made the sales in China in the first quarter of this year increase by 121% compared to last year, and reach 427 million Danish kroner (about 430 million yuan, and 64 million USD).

In the first quarter, Pandora's key financial data is as follows:

* The total amount of sales reached 5.15 billion Danish krone, an increase of 9% compared to last year, or 8% at constant exchange rate, which is consistent with the previous expectations.

* The net profit reached 1.36 billion Danish krone, increasing by 4.1%.

* The EBITDA reached 1.879 billion Danish krone, increasing by 7%.

* Due to exchange rate fluctuations and other factors, the gross profit rate decreased by 73.3% from 74.6% over the same period of last year.

* The pre-tax profit reached 1.72 billion Danish krone, increasing by 4%, and the pre-tax gross profit rate was at 33.3%.

In the first quarter, Pandora continued to push its diversified market strategy. The sales in Asia-Pacific market accounted for 17% of total, going up by 4% in 2013. Pandora's CEO Anders Colding Friis, said that he was ‘very satisfied’ with the first quarter performance, and he mentioned that many key markets have grown.

In addition, Pandora has adopted various strategies to increase the variety of commodities categories. In the first quarter, the sales of rings, earrings, necklaces and pendants augmented by 48% compared to last year, accounting for 25% of the total sales, with a slight increase compared to 23% the previous year.

In the announcement, Pandora Group stated that its expectations for 2017 remain unchanged: the total amount of sales for the year will be around 23 to 24 billion Danish krone, with 38% of EBITDA and more than 275 new concept stores.

Pandora's performance in the first quarter is as follows:

* The total amount of retail sales reached 1.965 billion Danish krone, an increase of 39%, accounting for 38% of total sales. The comparable store sales also went up by 8%.

* With regard to the direct sales, the official website eSTOREs has been launched in 17 countries, the e-commercial sales went up by 63% compared to last year, reached 3.04 billion Danish krone, accounting for 6% of the total sales,representing an increase of 4% in the last year - mainly promoted by the e-commercial sales in the United States and China in the fourth quarter of 2016.

* The wholesale sales reached 2.273 billion Danish kroner, a 7% decrease, accounting for 53% of total sales.

* The third-party distribution sales amount was 471 million Danish kroner, going up by 16%, accounting for 9% of the total sales.

In the first quarter, Pandora continued its strategy to expand its retail network, launching 58 new concept stores, 19 of which are located in China. The wholesale sales fell mainly because of the harsh marketing environment in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In the first quarter, Pandora's performance in each market is as follows:

* The total sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 2.198 billion Danish krone, an increase of 5%, or 9% at constant exchange rate.

* The total sales in the US market reached 1.693 billion Danish kroner, decreasing by 5% compared to last year, or 9% at constant exchange rate.

* The total sales in the Asia-Pacific region reached 1.268 billion Danish krone, a 44% increase, or 40% at constant exchange rate. In the Chinese market, the sales made it to 427 million Danish krone, a 121% increase, or 125% at constant exchange rate.

* The performances in Italy and France was quite good among European countries. The growth rate in both countries reached double-digit. But the sales in the UK and Germany went down due to reducing the scale and harsh environment of retail networking.

Due to 700 outlets closing down in the first quarter, the sales in the US accounted for 1.274 billion Danish krone, going down by 7% compared to last year. Pandora said that the current retail environment in North America is still very harsh. In the first quarter, the shopping center traffic in North American decreased by 9% compared to last year.

Pandora announced that, in addition to the newly opened concept stores, the strength of online sales in China is also an important reason for rapid growth. In Australia, Pandora's second-largest market in Asia, the sales went up by 27% compared to last year, or 18% at constant exchange rate. Pandora has opened 12 concept stores in the past year.

Original article here

#China #Pandora #ecommerce