Planning with purpose: How Pandora is transforming supply chain agility and value

When Pandora launched its “HERO” program to transform global planning, it wasn’t just about implementing a new system. It was about scaling a vision rooted in something deeply personal: helping millions of people around the world express love through jewelry. That ethos is central to the company’s brand, but as it turns out, it’s also the driving force behind a complex, fast-moving, vertically integrated supply chain.

With over 110 million units sold annually, more than 37,000 employees, and nearly 7,000 points of sale across more than 100 countries, Pandora is now the largest jewelry brand in the world. The company crafts every item by hand, primarily in its own facilities in Thailand, and sells most of its products directly through a vast retail network. That unique level of vertical integration gives Pandora a powerful advantage, but also makes end-to-end planning an essential enabler of growth.

To meet its evolving strategic goals (namely, personalization at scale, global expansion, sustainability leadership, and agility in fast-changing markets) Pandora is rethinking how it plans, makes, and moves product. At the center of this transformation is a foundational shift in planning, powered by o9.

Laying the foundation: Pandora’s vertically integrated model

Pandora’s operating model is rare in the industry. Not only does the company design and craft nearly all its products in-house, it also sells the majority through its own stores. This vertical integration provides the company with shorter lead times, tighter control over product availability, and a unique ability to quickly respond to changes in consumer demand.

Yet despite this advantage, legacy planning systems and siloed processes made it difficult to fully capitalize on that flexibility. As the company expanded beyond charms and bracelets into a full jewelry house—alongside growth in personalization services like engraving—it became clear that a more integrated and responsive planning system would be critical to support its ambitions.

HERO: A roadmap for harmonizing, elevating, and optimizing

Pandora’s transformation program, known internally as “HERO,” stands for Harmonize, Elevate, Respond, and Optimize. The name is more than just a catchy acronym; it reflects the company’s belief that planning can be a heroic enabler of both consumer delight and operational excellence.

• Harmonize focuses on replacing multiple legacy systems with a single o9 platform that supports planning across the entire value chain.
• Elevate emphasizes process improvement—enhancing the way planning is done, not just the tools used.
• Respond targets agility, enabling planners to quickly react to demand shifts and minimize both missed opportunities and excess inventory.
• Optimize is about making smarter decisions across the full P&L, balancing trade-offs across cost, service, and margin.

Following a comprehensive RFP process in 2023, Pandora selected o9 as its partner to build and scale this vision. The program covers forecasting, location replenishment, inventory, capacity, production, and raw material planning—essentially the entire planning stack. The rollout is structured in phases, with forecasting and replenishment going live in 2024 and supply, capacity, and raw material planning to follow in 2025–2026.

Blueprinting with intent: The value of preparation

Pandora’s transformation began with a strong belief: “Well prepared is half done.” The team devoted significant time to blueprinting, not just to map processes but to define the value each functionality would deliver. Every design decision was grounded in a clear value case.

Rather than rushing into configuration, the company took the time to define KPIs, establish baselines, and clarify what success would look like. This included identifying “key design decisions” (KDDs)—the foundational choices that, if wrong, could derail the entire transformation. That mindset helped the team avoid scope creep and resist the temptation to chase features that looked impressive but didn’t add measurable value.

As one leader described it, “It’s easy to be drawn into the technical excitement of what the system can do. But if it’s not tied to the value you need, it’s in vain.”

Staying essential: Why simplicity beats complexity at scale

Throughout the build phase, Pandora applied a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach. The goal was to launch quickly with a core solution that worked, learn from real-world usage, and iterate over time. This “crawl, walk, shine” strategy allowed the team to balance innovation with stability.

To avoid over-customization, the team made a deliberate effort to stick closely to the o9 reference model wherever possible. Tailored configurations were only introduced when absolutely necessary for the business. This approach reduced risk, simplified future upgrades, and helped Pandora stay agile.

The result: a system that is strong enough to deliver impact from day one, but flexible enough to evolve with the business.

People at the core: Driving organizational readiness and adoption

Technology was only part of the story. For Pandora, the most critical enabler of transformation has been people. Recognizing that planning transformation is fundamentally a business transformation, the team placed early and ongoing emphasis on change management, training, and ownership.

Pandora set up multiple Centers of Excellence (CoEs) across supply chain, merchandising, and IT to ensure that each function had deep expertise in the o9 solution. These CoEs were hands-on during blueprinting and build, and will continue to play a central role post go-live—ensuring a seamless transition from implementation to continuous improvement.

To support the journey, Pandora also engaged expert partners: ACL for implementation and Efeso for strategic business advisory and change enablement. These collaborations helped strengthen organizational capabilities and ensured alignment across leadership, process, and technology.

Looking ahead: Continuous improvement meets agile execution

As the go-live milestones approach, Pandora is preparing to shift from waterfall-style project delivery into an agile, product-based operating model. Quarterly release cycles will allow the company to continue refining and expanding the platform, with each new feature tied to a clear value driver.

Crucially, the same teams that built the platform will own its evolution, ensuring that institutional knowledge is preserved and that the momentum built during the transformation continues long after launch.

Final takeaways: Value, essence, people

In reflecting on the journey so far, Pandora’s leadership distilled the key learnings into three guiding principles:

1. Focus on value. Every process, feature, and design choice must link back to measurable business impact.
2. Stick to the essentials. Start simple, launch fast, and iterate. Don’t overcomplicate early releases.
3. Prioritize people. Build organizational readiness early, empower internal experts, and lead the transformation from within.

As Pandora continues its mission to give a voice to people’s loves, it’s doing so with a planning foundation built not just for today’s complexity but also for tomorrow’s possibilities.

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