Headlines

Pandora to Lay Off 1,200 Employees

The cuts follow declining sales.

Published

5 years ago

May 8, 2019

James Ritchie

Pandora plans to slash 1,200 jobs from its Thailand operations in the wake of flagging sales.

The layoffs are in addition to 700 job cuts in February, Reuters reports.

Jimmy Degroot

Video: Split Sales Require Effort

Jimmy Degroot

The Business of Jewelry Podcast Special Edition (Part 2)

Jimmy Degroot

The Business of Jewelry Podcast Special Edition

About 14,000 of Pandora’s 32,000 worldwide employees are based in Thailand.

Even as it cuts jobs, the company plans to increase its marketing investment, particularly in the UK, Italy and China, according to Reuters.

CEO Alexander Lacik was quoted saying: “The brand as well as the company has reached a point of maturity and it is not without some serious challenges.”

In the company’s most recent fiscal quarter, like-for-like sales dropped 10 percent compared to the year-ago quarter, Reuters reports. Pandora said fewer shoppers visited its stores in key markets, including Great Britain and Australia.

When There’s No Succession Plan, Call Wilkerson

Bob Wesley, owner of Robert C. Wesley Jewelers in Scottsdale, Ariz., was a third-generation jeweler. When it was time to enjoy life on the other side of the counter, he weighed his options. His lease was nearing renewal time and with no succession plan, he decided it was time to call Wilkerson. There was plenty of inventory to sell and at first, says Wesley, he thought he might try to manage a sale himself. But he’s glad he didn’t. “There’s no way I could have done this as well as Wilkerson,” he says. Wilkerson took responsibility for the entire event, with every detail — from advertising to accounting — done, dusted and managed by the Wilkerson team. “It’s the complete package,” he says of the Wilkerson method of helping jewelers to easily go on to the next phase of their lives. “There’s no way any retailer can duplicate what they’ve done.”