New president for Pandora Australia
danish-born jewellery brand pandora has announced david allen will take over the role of pandora australia president from july 1.
current president and founder of pandora’s commercial presence in the region, karin adcock will step down from daily operations but continue as chairman of the pandora australia advisory board, chairman of the pandora franchise advisory council for the australian and new zealand business and a brand ambassador.
“after eight years leading our team to growing pandora to the business we have today, i have decided that it’s time for a change,” she says. “i need to take a step back and restore my work life balance and reassess my future direction. i have great confidence in handing over to david and i have no doubt he will be a great leader of our brand in australia.”
allen is currently pandora vice president of sales and has retail industry experience previously working for pretty girl fashion group, woolworth group and the colorado group.
he will report to pandora ceo bjorn gulden. “david allen brings profound retail experience and energetic leadership to the global management team, and i look forward to working with him,” says gulden. “i am confident david has the right set of both personal and professional skills to successfully bring pandora to the next level in this region.”
the appointment comes in an interesting year for pandora, which closed about 100 wholesale accounts earlier this year as part of a shift in focus to fully branded retail stores.
it is hoped this move will secure the future of the brand in the tough australian retail market.
local revenue for quarter one 2012 was down 28.7 per cent year on year. the company attributes this mainly to the over distribution of its products in unbranded sales, which it addressed in the closure of the wholesale accounts. discounting from the discontinued stores also impacted figures but this is expected to be time-limited in nature.
