Backcountry, the outdoor gear company, has selected Centric Software®’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for emerging brands, Centric SMB. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source, and sell products such as apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, home décor, cosmetics, food & beverage, and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Based in Park City, Utah, steps from the Wasatch mountains, Backcountry was founded in 1996 as an online retailer of outdoor gear and apparel. They offer high-performance apparel and gear for camping, trail running, mountain biking, alpine and Nordic skiing, mountaineering, backpacking, and more.
The company has enjoyed strong, consistent growth over the past two decades. In recent years, they have turned their focus to in-house brands. They decided to upgrade current systems to set the foundation for planned future growth.
Colleen Burns, Director of Sourcing, Owned Brands says, “Backcountry is looking to grow our owned brands and we need a solution that can grow with us. We are currently using a system that works well for start-ups but were looking for something that can handle more bandwidth.”
Not all PLM solutions are created equal. After an on-again-off-again evaluation of Centric, Backcountry realized that their needs had changed and were ready to embrace Centric PLM. Says Burns, “Based on market research, demos of Centric PLM, and professional recommendations, we decided to select Centric SMB as it fits our requirements now and into the future.”
The team that manages the owned brands business will benefit from improved collaboration, reduced data entry errors and an overall improvement in workstream flow. Centric’s reporting capabilities will also be a benefit. “We are expecting to gain efficiencies in tech pack maintenance and overall business reporting,” says Burns.
Burns concludes, “We are just beginning to work with Centric and are excited to begin our journey together.”
Chris Groves, President, and CEO of Centric Software says, “We are looking forward to our partnership with Backcountry, a solid and respected company. With the popularity of outdoor activities, they are well-positioned for continued growth and we are glad to be along for the ride.”
