The company is updating its 50-year-old brand and looking to inline mall locations for growth.
The jewellery and piercing retailer, a division of Signet Jewelers, is debuting a new brand name, Banter by Piercing Pagoda. The retailer plans to roll out the updated moniker to its more than 500 US locations, as well as its digital and social media channels. It also will expand its newest service — facial and nose piercings — to more of its outposts.
Currently, about one-fifth of the chain’s existing locations are testing the new Banter by Piercing Pagoda name. The new name is designed to reflect the personal relationship the retailer has with both its new and long-held customers, its innovative customer experiences and omni-channel growth strategy, the company said.
Banter by Piercing Pagoda plans to open up to 100 locations in its current fiscal year. In a departure from its traditional kiosk model (the company is the nation’s largest specialty kiosk retailer), the openings will include tech-enabled inline stores that provide an enhanced shopping experience.
Going beyond the kiosk model gives consumers who want to get pierced more privacy than a mall hallway does, Kecia Caffie, President of Banter by Piercing Pagoda, said in a report by Bloomberg. “Ultimately we want Banter by Piercing Pagoda to be a place where they can come and have an experience,” Caffie said.
