How PANDORA unifies their customer experience with modern tech

By Microsoft in Business Team

April 10, 2017

Tags
Retail

Focus on: Engage Customers, Optimize Operations and Empower Employees

Known around the world for contributing to unforgettable moments, PANDORA creates sparkling treasures of silver and gold that help women express who they are and the things that are most important in their lives. It’s no small task, and one that the company takes seriously. PANDORA sells its pieces in more than 90 countries through approximately 9,500 points of sale, including retailers, franchises, and 1,500 concept stores.

Ensuring that every one of their customers receives the same personal attention wasn’t always possible for the team at PANDORA. A massive rethink in their technology and a focus toward finding a unified, global system on which to run and manage all processes has taken PANDORA on a digital transformation journey.

That journey is led in part by Phillip Kennedy, PANDORA’s Head of Global Application Development. Since joining the PANDORA team, Phillip has seen rapid growth that shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, just last year, the company opened 365 new shops—that’s one new retail store every day of the year.

Phillip’s toughest challenge has been handling the growth of this global organization. Without a unified system, store regions functioned independently of one another, each dealing with the PANDORA factory in Thailand and using its own systems and business processes. “We had no such thing as cross-company collaboration,” recalls Phillip, “but we were approaching a point where we couldn’t keep pace with business demands.” Pandora was eager to modernize and create a globally connected environment that would allow the organization to quickly adapt and respond to the needs of its rapidly expanding retailer, franchisee, and customer base.

One-on-One Experiences for Deeper EngagementThe PANDORA shopping experience is different from many other retail companies. Because its charms and other jewelry are personal, it’s important for retail staff to understand their customers on a deeper level. That requires a one-on-one experience. But with 9,500 points of sale, giving customers the exact same experience at any PANDORA location, anywhere in the world, was a huge challenge.

“We want to make the shopping experience more personal, so that when a customer walks into any location that sells our jewelry, the retailer will know who she is, what she’s purchased, and what she’s interested in, and will have what she needs,” says Phillip.

Today, PANDORA’s regional points of sale interact, sharing best practices and gaining efficiencies and insights for improved sales. The framework for a global solution with Dynamics 365 is in place and the company is working towards this end. PANDORA is progressing on a path toward providing tailored service to the women who wear their jewelry and those who purchase it as gifts.

Transforming Processes with the CloudPANDORA’s business is very seasonal, so scalability was important. The company chose Azure as their starting point to go digital, replacing their outdated phone and fax ordering system with a cloud ordering solution. User adoption went up quickly and the company has been building on the solution ever since. Today, it runs 26 instances in Azure across 48 countries and in 12 languages. “We’re getting 80% of our wholesale sales through the site.” Phillip says. By moving to self-serve reporting and document sharing, they’ve been able to reduce customer service costs by 80%.

“All our franchisees, retailers, and wholesalers now have self-service access to order reports, customer return data, marketing materials, jewelry specs, and other information that they used to have to ask customer service representatives to provide,” says Phillip.Empowering Employees to Make Data-Driven DecisionsIn early 2015, PANDORA moved all its productivity software to Microsoft. Since then, account managers, regional sales managers, and visual merchandisers have begun to use Dynamics 365 to access account and contact data, and to manage those activities. Because it’s integrated with Office 365, they can also access any other information, such as customer service issues and new store openings.

Better business intelligence and transparency also allow the company to make data-driven decisions. “We didn’t know, for instance, if ring sales in Australia were outpacing those in the United States and, if so, why,” says Phillip. “Now they can see how different markets are doing, how the franchise business is growing, whether some stores have stronger visual merchandising or different promotional marketing programs, and other valuable input.”

Optimizing Operations for Simplified ServiceThe jewelry industry isn’t known for being cutting edge when it comes to technology. PANDORA needed a sophisticated solution that could track activity, upload photos, and provide analytics for their visual merchandisers. Phillip’s team started a 50-user pilot with Dynamics 365. After four months, the solution went live and Pandora decided to bring in other areas, including sales, marketing, merchandising, and supply chain for a true “cradle to grave” solution.

PANDORA maintains consistency across all aspects of retail locations, from their look and feel to their financial data routing. Dynamics 365 has eliminated five to ten weeks of tedious labor a year for the company. From a security standpoint, data and documents uploaded and downloaded by employees via OneDrive for Business are more secure. With the mobility and familiar interface that comes with Dynamics 365, user adoption has come along quickly.Tapping into Customers’ Desires with Interactive DataPANDORA’s overarching goal is to keep customers happy by consistently producing fresh, modern designs that reflect the images customers want to show the world. Being in touch with their customers’ wants and needs allows them to tap into these desires and create products that reflect this. Without a unified solution, gifting would be more random and precious moments would become more distant.

“We’ve replaced static data with interactive information, modernized the way we work together, and made it easier for our wholesalers, retailers, and franchisees to provide customers with unrivaled experiences.” Phillip adds, “And we’re just getting started. We have the capabilities that we need to transform the consumer experience and optimize business processes worldwide to be an even more agile, successful enterprise.”Into the FutureThe company’s ultimate vision is “to become the world’s most-loved jewelry brand,” and it’s accomplishing this by unifying employees, wholesalers, retailers, and franchisees to create a unified customer experience. Now, every customer receives the same attention to detail the he or she deserves, and every PANDORA location around the world will understand that customer’s preferences. From first recitals to college graduations and wedding days, PANDORA is providing exceptional customer service to create exceptional memories.