Retail giant aims to streamline business and improve speed to market

CAMPBELL, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — February 6, 2018 — Woolworths Proprietary Limited, a prominent South African retail chain, has selected Centric Software to provide its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for its Fashion, Beauty and Home business. 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.

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Woolworths South Africa, part of the Woolworths Holdings Group, is a leading retailer operating in South Africa and 11 Sub Saharan African countries. The retailer offers a unique blend of food, fashion, beauty, homeware and financial services.

Woolworths’ requirements for an innovative and intuitive PLM system grew as their business grew. With their increased product offerings, sourcing regions became more diverse and they also expanded into new trading regions, creating additional complexity in the management of these new channels. Research kicked off to address these issues which led the organization into the world of modern PLM solutions. After stacking up each business challenge across the product landscape, it became evident that a PLM would be able to address almost all of their challenges.

Following a competitive selection process, Woolworths chose to implement Centric Software’s PLM solution.

Centric was selected as it best fit the current and future business trading model of Woolworths as well as simultaneously providing opportunities to simplify and streamline ways of working. A company culture fit and a fantastic local implementation partner who has experience implementing Centric at other retailers in South Africa made the decision easy.

Having a single version of the truth across all different departments will allow for easier management of collections, a reduction in time to market and improved visibility. Centric will provide the platform to transform design, sourcing, buying and technology tasks and roles – empowering the Woolworths team to make smarter and faster decisions.

Centric looks forward to partnering with Woolworths to implement a solution that is flexible, works out of the box, and can grow and adapt as their business changes over time.

“We are very pleased that Woolworths has selected Centric PLM and would like to welcome them to the Centric family,” says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. “We will be with Woolworths every step of the way and we look forward to seeing Centric support their business as they move into the future.”

Woolworths Holdings Limited ( www.woolworthsholdings.co.za)

Woolworths Holdings Limited (WHL) is one of the top 40 companies listed on the JSE Limited Securities Exchange (JSE) with operations across the southern hemisphere and 34% of operating profit generated in Australia.

The Group consists of three major operating divisions

• Woolworths South Africa (Woolworths or WSA) based in South Africa and operating across 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa;
• David Jones (David Jones or DJ) based and trading in Australia; and
• Country Road Group (Country Road Group or CRG) based in Australia and trading in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Woolworths Financial Services (WFS) is a joint venture between Woolworths and Barclays Africa Group, with Barclays Africa Group owning 50% + 1 share. The WFS board is constituted with directors from both WHL and Barclays Africa Group, with direction on credit policy, risk and funding aspects received from Barclays and direction on customer integration from Woolworths.

From 1 September 2017, a new regional structure, WHL Australia, was introduced for our Australian businesses, David Jones and Country Road Group.

The Group employs more than 44,000 employees across 14 countries and trades in more than 1,400 store locations.

Woolworths SA ( www.woolworthsholdings.co.za)

Woolworths offers a unique blend of food, fashion, beauty, homeware and financial services with the vision to be a leading fashion retailer in the Southern Hemisphere. We employ over 31,000 people in South Africa and over 43,000 people across the Group in South Africa, Africa and Australasia to transform this vision into reality.

Doing business responsibly, in the most transparent and ethical way, sits at the heart of the Woolworths business. Sustainability is one of our values as well as a strategic imperative. We rely on our employees to be the creative and innovative hub of our business through the integration of sustainability initiatives into everything we do. Through the collective efforts, commitment and support of our people, suppliers and customers we continue to make great progress on our journey to leave the world and our community in a better place than we found it.

Centric Software ( www.centricsoftware.com )