Centric Software® is pleased to announce new innovations to Centric Planning™, delivering added value through AI-enhanced demand forecasting, smarter assortment intelligence and deeper integrations with Centric PLM™, and Centric Visual Boards™. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to market, sell and replenish fashion, luxury, footwear, outdoor, home, food & beverage, cosmetics & personal care products, consumer electronics as well as multi-category retail, to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Centric Planning harnesses AI-driven forecasting with real-time connections to critical assortment and product go-to-market workflows. Combined with intelligent assortment and inventory planning, retailers and brands can unlock up to 110% improvement in margins. Proven results include doubling operating margins, cutting planning cycle times by 75%, reducing inventory by 50% and shortening budget preparation time by half—driving faster decisions, happier teams and increased agility.
Highlights of the latest upgrades to the Centric Planning platform include:
- New competitive benchmarking embedded in the planning stage
Without visibility into competitor assortments, brands risk missed opportunities and pricing errors. New AI-powered benchmarking in Centric Planning identifies assortment gaps through similar-product recognition and pricing analysis, with live market data from Centric Market Intelligence™ embedded directly into planning workflows. Retailers gain the insight to shape more relevant assortments and respond swiftly to market shifts. - Strategic replenishment algorithm for the Chinese market
China’s rapid production cycles and regional logistics require a different approach to inventory planning. Centric Planning now includes a market-specific replenishment algorithm that boosts store-level accuracy and supply chain agility across the region. For global retailers operating in or expanding into China, this is a strategic capability that reflects Centric Software’s commitment to delivering localized intelligence within a unified, scalable platform. - Enhanced AI-based assortment planning quantification
Planning and defining the right buy-quantities during the pre-season phase has long challenged merchandisers, often resulting in stock imbalances, excess inventory or premature markdowns. To address this, Centric Planning has introduced AI-powered pre-season forecasting that delivers precise, data-backed quantity recommendations at the assortment planning stage. Built on attribute enrichment trained on billions of products via Centric Market Intelligence, this enhancement sets a new standard in planning accuracy, empowering brands and retailers to boost sell-through, minimize waste and protect margins.
“The latest innovations including AI/ML capabilities in Centric Planning enables brands and retailers to visualize analytics and data more effectively for more accurate demand forecasts throughout the product sales cycle,” explains Chris Groves, CEO of Centric Software. “These innovations reflect Centric Software’s core strengths and market relevance via actionable AI and a connected ecosystem driving smarter, faster decisions for brands globally to boost revenues.”
