Pandora Drops China Prices to Combat Grey Market

RAPAPORT Pandora has lowered retail prices for most of the jewelry it offers in the Chinese market in an effort to combat revenue loss from illegitimate sales The jeweler has reduced the cost of products by approximately 15% across all its platforms in the region, including eSTORE and its listings on Alibaba Group's Tmall-ecommerce site, it said last week By lowering prices, Pandora hopes to limit grey-market purchasing, as well as reduce the retail-price difference between mainland China and other markets.

Revenue declined 9% in Asia Pacific for the first quarter of 2018, it said in May In China, growth slowed from 62% in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 16% in the first three months of this year Pandora attributed that relative weakness to an increase in grey-market trading, in which retailers sell a manufacturer's genuine products without authorization.

"This price reduction across our jewelry assortment is one element in our strategic program to limit grey-market trading of our products in China, and continue to enhance our customer experience in the world's largest jewelry market," said Kenneth Madsen, Pandora's president for the Asia-Pacific region Pandora currently operates more than 170 concept stores throughout China. . Source