Centric Software announces that Lojas Renner, the largest fashion retailer in Brazil, has selected Centric Software to provide its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution.
With an illustrious history that stretches back to the foundation of the first A.J. Renner store in Porto Alegre, Lojas Renner incorporated in 1965. Since then, it has grown to become the largest fashion retailer in Brazil. Lojas Renner owns three separate businesses: fashion retailer brand Renner, specialized youth brand Youcom and home and décor brand Camicado. With 512 stores across Brazil, a thriving e-commerce channel and a recent expansion into neighboring Uruguay, Lojas Renner is a giant of the South American fashion retail scene.
"Lojas Renner is expanding and also collaborates with a sourcing office in Shanghai," explains Henry Costa, Product Director at Lojas Renner. "Our core business challenges are related to faster product development cycles and digitalization of processes. In order to meet our development goals, we decided to invest in a PLM solution."
"Before PLM, product development was done with a combination of Excel, Powerpoint, email and even instant messaging," Costa continues. "There were too many issues with using these disparate systems and there are also differences in operations between the brands. Our main goal with PLM is to improve collaboration in order to reduce time to market and achieve alignment across product development."
Lojas Renner's selection process whittled an initial list of 12 PLM providers down to four, and then two. Users tested the final two competing solutions and scored them on a variety of criteria. Centric PLM came out on top.
As Costa explains, "All users had a checklist to complete and Centric PLM ranked highest for user interface. We also examined the IT side in relation to our existing infrastructure. Centric PLM can integrate well with our other systems, which makes a huge difference."
Costa concludes, "We're looking forward to getting started. The Centric team has been very helpful and available whenever we needed them. Centric are very knowledgeable about PLM for fashion and are responsive to our needs."
"We are delighted to partner with Lojas Renner as our first retail customer in Brazil," says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. "As the largest fashion retailer in Brazil, Lojas Renner wanted an innovative, easy to use solution to help drive digital transformation and global expansion. We look forward to working with them now and into the future as they continue to transform and grow."