Pandora partners with Hardis for global WMS transformation to improve traceability

Pandora, the world's largest jewelry retailer by volume, announced a global warehouse management system overhaul in partnership with Hardis Supply Chain, deploying the Hardis WMS across distribution centers in Hamburg, Bangkok, and its high-revenue Baltimore facility, the latter set to go live in summer 2026. The project is part of a broader technology modernization spanning ERP, transportation management, and global visibility platforms.

Dawn Swackhamer, Pandora's vice president of global operations and planning technology, said the brand chose Hardis precisely because larger vendors lacked the flexibility for the company's operational complexity. "The big names can be rigid and don't offer customization," Swackhamer said. "Hardis was willing to configure and customize to meet our needs, and they do it very well."

The operational logic is straightforward: one unified system across retail stores, franchisees, wholesalers, and B2B partners simultaneously means fewer fulfillment errors, accurate stock counts, and orders that match what's shown online. For shoppers, that's the most immediate change.

The accountability case is more consequential. A warehouse management system creates a continuous data trail: every inventory movement tagged, time-stamped, and linkable back to its certified source. That architecture is precisely what the European Union's Digital Product Passport regulation will require across product categories between now and 2030, and Pandora's Hamburg distribution center makes EU compliance a live concern, not a distant planning exercise.

Pandora already carries notable materials commitments. The company sources 100% recycled silver and gold, with all refineries certified to the Responsible Jewellery Council's Chain of Custody standard. It switched exclusively to man-made stones in 2021, including lab-grown diamonds produced using 100% renewable energy. Those lab-grown diamonds carry a carbon footprint roughly 5% that of mined equivalents, a figure independently documented and the kind of specific, verifiable claim that separates credible sustainability reporting from aspirational language.

The gap, until now, has been between what Pandora knows about its raw materials and what it can demonstrate about their movement through a global logistics network. The Hardis WMS is built to close that gap operationally. Whether Pandora surfaces that data to consumers through labeling, digital tags, or a product passport interface remains an open question.

That distinction is worth pressing at any brand claiming traceable materials. The questions that cut through vague commitments are specific: Can this piece be linked to a certified source lot, not just a category-level pledge? Does the recycled metal or lab-grown stone carry a verifiable certification number, and where can it be looked up? What is the brand's concrete timeline for digital product passport compliance, and will that data be accessible to buyers or only to regulators? Brands with unified, real-time warehouse systems will answer these with specifics. Those still operating disconnected regional databases will deflect to mission statements.

Pandora's Hamburg and Bangkok deployments are live. Baltimore follows this summer. The infrastructure is in place; the decision that matters now is whether the brand uses it to give consumers the same real-time visibility its warehouse managers already have.