Sud Express Optimizes Purchasing Process by 30% with Centric PLM

French women’s ready-to-wear brand pursues omnichannel strategy with Centric Software^®

CAMPBELL, Calif., January 13, 2022 – Sud Express, the French women’s apparel retailer, has adopted Centric Software’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution. Centric Software provides innovative business solutions for the planning, design, development, procurement and distribution of products – including apparel, footwear, sports equipment, furniture, home furnishings, beauty products, food and beverage, and luxury goods – that enable companies to achieve their strategic and operational goals for digital transformation.

Founded in 1977 by Patrick Bellaïche, Sud Express is a premium brand serving multiple generations of active and modern women. Sud Express has revenues of just under 50 million Euros a year, 350 employees, 140 shops based mainly in France and franchises abroad. Wholesale and trade represent a small part of its business, which is now dominated by digital channels.

The retail omnichannel revolution led Sud Express to adopt a global strategy to transform its technology infrastructure. Sud Express implemented a new ERP system, changed its Internet platform, outsourced logistics, introduced new tablets in their shops and deployed a more sophisticated human resources management software solution. They also created a digital team, a supply chain department and are offering new services for their customers.

“The acquisition of a PLM solution was part of an overall process of completely overhauling our information system,” explains Christophe Lecrest, Supply Chain Director with Sud Express.

Sud Express was looking for a digital solution to unify stock management, increase the availability of its products and drive sales. They knew they needed to streamline production, enhance their purchasing management process and improve communication between departments.

“During our research, we found that the other PLM solutions on the market offered tools that were essentially focused on production monitoring. We wanted to cover a much broader spectrum, including our collection and buying processes,” explains Lecrest.

Thierry Letrilliart, Sud Express’s Associate Operational Director, shares why they chose Centric PLM, “Centric is the market leader in the fashion world. No competitor can boast such a strong presence in this sector. Centric is also an asset for recruitment because the candidates we interview know the Centric ecosystem.”

Sud Express implemented Centric PLM in just three months. “When I was told that the implementation timeframe was so short, I was skeptical,” says Lecrest. “But the collaboration between the Sud Express and Centric teams were a real strength for the project and everything went perfectly within the projected timeframe.”

“The buying process, coupled with our ERP, quickly enabled us to achieve productivity gains of around 30% according to our analysis,” adds Letrilliart. “All of the manual and time-consuming order entry tasks have been eliminated. The teams spend more time analyzing the data and there are fewer data entry errors.”

The first collection to be produced entirely using Centric PLM will be released in the summer of 2022. Sud Express plans to update and enhance Centric PLM across the organization as its needs evolve.

“We are extremely pleased to have Sud Express as part of the Centric family,” says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. “Sud Express is a highly responsive and innovative apparel brand that has achieved excellent results in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We are proud to support Sud Express in accelerating its omnichannel capabilities and increasing its agility.”

Learn more about Centric Fashion PLM

Request a Demo

Sud Express (www.sudexpress.fr)

Created in 1977 by Patrick Bellaïche, Sud Express is a reference brand in French women’s ready-to-wear. With a complete wardrobe combining timeless pieces and images, Sud Express is for all women. The South pieces thus accompany them throughout their lives. Today, its incredible development is reflected on different channels and in particular that of digital with the implementation of new tools. The brand, which currently has 140 points of sale, does not stop there, because it plans by 2022 new store openings.

Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software^® provides a Product Concept to Replenishment Digital Transformation Platform for fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor, consumer electronics and consumer goods including cosmetics and personal care and food and beverage. Centric’s flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric PLM^TM, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and product portfolio optimization innovations specifically for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (CVIP) offers highly visual digital board experiences for collaboration and decision-making. Centric Retail Planning is an innovative, cloud-native solution powered by Armonica Retail S.R.L., that delivers an end-to-end retail planning process designed to maximize retail business performance. Centric Software pioneered mobility, introducing the first mobile apps for PLM, and is widely known for connectivity to dozens of other enterprise systems including ERP, DAM, PIM, e-com, planning and more as well as creative tools such as Adobe^® Illustrator and a host of 3D CAD connectors. Centric’s innovations are 100% market-driven with the highest user adoption rate and fastest time to value in the industry. All Centric innovations shorten time to market, boost product innovation and reduce costs.

Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D digital mock-up and PLM solutions.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2021.

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