Jewellery maker Pandora has no plans to join platforms like Amazon or Farfetch – CEO

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Jewellery maker Pandora would prefer to invest in physical stores or its own online sales platform rather than join large e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon or Farfetch, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

“If you’re a small and unknown brand, marketplaces offer a great opportunity, because they provide you with an audience. I already have an audience,” CEO Alexander Lacik said during an interview at the Reuters Next conference on Wednesday.

Pandora, the world’s largest jewellery maker by production capacity, has found a niche between cheaper accessories sold by the likes of H&M and more expensive jewellery like that of Tiffany & Co.

“Eight out of ten women globally are aware of our brand, so I don’t need to make you aware of me. What I need to do is to show you what I’ve got, and I can to this much better if I have a direct relationship with my customer,” he said.

The $12.3 billion company, headquartered in Copenhagen, has increased investment in e-commerce during the pandemic. It is present on China’s T-mall platform but not on large global platforms like Amazon or Farfetch.

“Marketplaces always have to make a compromise for all the clients they are serving. I don’t have to compromise,” he said.

Pandora’s more than 2,600 physical stores remain the core of its business and accounted for 62% of global sales between July and September.

“Nearly two-thirds of my customers are men buying jewellery for their girlfriends, wifes, grandmothers or children. And we know that men buying jewellery need help,” he said.

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This story corrects share of sales from physical stores in 7th paragraph.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)