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Cape Union Mart selects Centric PLM solution

23
Jan '19

Courtesy: Centric Software

Cape Union Mart, South Africa’s favourite outdoor adventure store, has selected Centric Software’s product lifecycle management (PLM) solution. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury, and consumer goods companies to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

In the last six years, Cape Union Mart has tripled in size. The company has grown from one chain to five and has ambitions to increase its number of stores to 400 in the next two years. Facing the challenges of growth and increasing complexity, Cape Union Mart decided to invest in a PLM solution, Centric said in a press release.

“What used to be acceptable to do in Excel really wasn’t possible going forward. Because we lacked systems that were fully integrated with suppliers, there were communication issues. We were experiencing the growing pains that come with transforming from a small to a large retailer. We are on a mission to replace a lot of our legacy systems and the right PLM solution provides the foundation for improving business processes across the whole organisation,” Grant de Waal, Group IT systems manager at Cape Union Mart said.

“We weren’t the first retailer to embark on this journey within the local footprint and we knew that Centric is used by several larger retailers in South Africa, as well as many of our suppliers. When we put out an RFP, we were impressed by Centric’s ability to cater to all of our chains, seamlessly integrate suppliers and factories and effectively handle sizing and colours. We have a very complex business with two separate sides: the outdoor division, which runs on a replenishment model with our own brands and supplier brands, and the fashion division, which has a design centre and works with two local CMT (cut, make, trim) manufacturers. Most solutions could only handle one or the other but what we liked about Centric was that it could do both,” Grant de Waal added.

Cape Union Mart decided to adopt the full range of Centric 8 modules and several of Centric’s mobile apps for PLM. Centric and Cape Union Mart are also working with Centric Software’s long-term partner local consultancy, Cogworks Consulting, to meet specific requirements of the South African retail market.

“The apps that Centric has launched to improve buying, design, sampling and quality control are of huge interest to us and we also look forward to trying out Centric’s innovations in AI and 3D, particularly 3D sampling. We expect to have much better supply chain visibility, sourcing management and supplier relationships. This is a journey, rather than a project, and we will be working with Centric for a number of years to optimise our business. Centric has been extremely accommodating, and amazing to work with so far. Because Centric is collaborating with a local partner, Cogworks, we are getting cutting-edge technology and international best practices combined with local knowledge and insights,” Grant de Waal said. (GK)

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