29 May, 2018

Lojas Renner Selects Centric PLM

CAMPBELL, Calif., May 29, 2018 – Lojas Renner, the largest fashion retailer in Brazil, has selected Centric Software to provide its 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.

With an illustrious history that stretches back to the foundation of the first A.J. Renner store in Porto Alegre, Lojas Renner incorporated in 1965. Since then, it has grown to become the largest fashion retailer in Brazil. Lojas Renner owns three separate businesses: fashion retailer brand Renner, specialized youth brand Youcom and home and décor brand Camicado. With 512 stores across Brazil, a thriving e-commerce channel and a recent expansion into neighboring Uruguay, Lojas Renner is a giant of the South American fashion retail scene.

“Lojas Renner is expanding and also collaborates with a sourcing office in Shanghai,” explains Henry Costa, Product Director at Lojas Renner. “Our core business challenges are related to faster product development cycles and digitalization of processes. In order to meet our development goals, we decided to invest in a PLM solution.”

“Before PLM, product development was done with a combination of Excel, Powerpoint, email and even instant messaging,” Costa continues. “There were too many issues with using these disparate systems and there are also differences in operations between the brands. Our main goal with PLM is to improve collaboration in order to reduce time to market and achieve alignment across product development.”

Lojas Renner’s selection process whittled an initial list of 12 PLM providers down to four, and then two. Users tested the final two competing solutions and scored them on a variety of criteria. Centric PLM came out on top.

As Costa explains, “All users had a checklist to complete and Centric PLM ranked highest for user interface. We also examined the IT side in relation to our existing infrastructure. Centric PLM can integrate well with our other systems, which makes a huge difference.”

Costa concludes, “We’re looking forward to getting started. The Centric team has been very helpful and available whenever we needed them. Centric are very knowledgeable about PLM for fashion and are responsive to our needs.”

“We are delighted to partner with Lojas Renner as our first retail customer in Brazil,” says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. “As the largest fashion retailer in Brazil, Lojas Renner wanted an innovative, easy to use solution to help drive digital transformation and global expansion. We look forward to working with them now and into the future as they continue to transform and grow.”

Lojas Renner (www.lojasrenner.com.br)

The Company was incorporated in 1965 and has been listed since 1967. A pure, widely held company since 2005, with a 100% free float, Lojas Renner was deemed the first Brazilian corporation. Renner’s equities are traded under the LREN3 symbol on B3’s Novo Mercado, the highest level of Corporate Governance, and via ADRs on the US OTC market under the LRENY symbol. As of December 28, 2017, the closing price of the LREN3 share was R$ 35.49, the Company reporting a market capitalization of R$ 25.3 billion. Lojas Renner is the largest fashion retailer in Brazil. In December 2017, Lojas Renner has 330 Renner stores (including three stores in Uruguay), 98 Camicado units and 84 Youcom stores, the large majority of which are located in shopping malls, in addition to its online platforms and the e-commerce exclusive brand Ashua. Renner designs and sells quality apparel, footwear and underwear for women, men, adolescents and children under 17 private labels of which 6 represent the Lifestyle concept, each one reflecting a style of being and dressing. Renner also sells accessories and cosmetics under two proprietary brands as well as offering specific items bearing third party labels. Camicado, acquired in May 2011 is a company in the home decor segment and Youcom, launched in 2013, is a new business model focused on the younger generation in a specialized store environment. The Company also owns Realize CFI, a financial institution which supports Renner’s retail business, through the management of the financial products offered. The target customers of Renner and Camicado are women between the ages of 18 and 39 who are in the medium-high consumption groups in Brazil. Youcom also caters for the medium income class, but with focus on the younger consumer between the ages of 18 and 35. Lojas Renner offers its customers fashion products in various styles with quality and competitive prices in practical and pleasant shopping environments.

Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions. Centric VIP transforms decision making and automates execution to truly collapse time to market and distance to trend. Centric’s flagship

product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality, and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for small businesses.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM in 2016 and Frost & Sullivan’s Global Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM Product Differentiation Excellence Award in 2012. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015, and 2016.

Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.