Campbell, CA—Nov. 1, 2011—Centric Software, Inc., is launching its product lifecycle management (PLM) collection management module, creating customer-specific product catalogs and assortments. The module is the first to leverage mobile devices for customer catalog presentation in the apparel and fashion, luxury goods and consumer goods industries.
Centric Collection Management enables marketing and merchandising to create highly targeted, dynamically updated, electronic Collection Catalogs for customer presentation. Using any computer with a browser-based internet connection, customers can log in to a personalized portal and view the individualized Collection Catalog that marketing, merchandising or sales persons created for them using the Centric 8 Collection Management module. Optionally, sales staff can use Centric’s patent-pending Collection Book for Fashion iPad App to show assortment presentations when calling on customers at their offices or visiting with them at industry trade shows and buying events.
The Collection Management module links marketing, merchandising and sales teams—and their business processes and customers—with the Centric 8 PLM system. The web-based Collection Catalogs – or, alternatively, the Collection Book for Fashion iPad App customer presentations – synchronize dynamically with up-to-date product option and availability information in the Centric 8 PLM system so that customers only see up-to-date, accurate product information.
The new capabilities enable merchandising and sales teams to easily create and manage dynamic catalogs and collection presentations while eliminating the need for the paper-based catalogs that much of the industry relies on, according to Chris Groves, CEO of Centric. The Collection Management module allows companies to avoid quickly outdated and expensive printed catalogs, using Centric 8’s accurate product information to create and present customized, targeted and accurate catalogs. “The customer’s experience and satisfaction improves,” says Groves.
Using the most current product attributes, synchronized throughout the Centric 8 PLM system, merchandising, marketing and sales can offer customers collections that are truly customized for their needs—and that present accurate availability, price and product options. Customers can view their tailored collections in a customer-specific, web-based Collection Catalog, or sales staff can present the collection on Centric’s Collection Book for Fashion iPad App.
Flexibility in the module allows the marketing, sales or merchandising professional to create sub-collections and groupings, include the same items in multiple collections, and search on fabric, color, product and other codes. Additional features of the Collection Management module include the ability to:
The Collection Management module allows marketing and sales staff to manage collection descriptions and, as necessary, override corporate pricing data provided by the Centric 8 PLM software to provide localized pricing and promotions. Salespersons can set filters to present online customized Collection Catalogs to customers, who then can share those collections with their own individual retailers or buyers. Unavailable products or options can be displayed as “concept” items.
Whether an Internet connection is available or not, customers can view collections with Centric’s mobile Collection Book iPad App, the first mobile app to directly link data from a PLM system to customers through an interactive mobile device. Sales professionals then can upload orders into optional, integrated sales order systems.
“The Centric 8 Collection Management module—when used with the online Collection Catalog viewer capability, or with the optional Collection Book for Fashion iPad App—will bring all the benefits of PLM technology directly to the people who interface with customers, allowing them to develop customer presentations with a greater level of targeting and accuracy than ever before,” says Groves. “The end result is the ability to meet revenue targets by removing barriers to sales and meeting the exact needs of the customer.”
