BOOSTING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND INNOVATIONBESTSELLER FASHION GROUP CHINA CREATES DIGITALFINDINGTHE BESTPLM
FIT PLMBACKBONEFOR GROWTH
WITH
CENTRICMARINE LAYER SAVES TIME AND IMPROVESDATA MANAGEMENT WITH CENTRIC SMB©2018 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

DANISH ROOTS, CHINESE RETAILBestseller Fashion Group China (BFGC) was established in 1996 and is a member of the Bestseller Group, based in Denmark. Bestseller isa clothing and accessories company owned by the Holch Povlsen family in Denmark and two Danish business partners, Dan Friis and Allan
Warburg, in China.
Based in Beijing, BFGC markets clothing and accessories online and in more than 8,000 stores in China under five Bestseller brands (ONLY, Jack& Jones, Vero Moda, Selected and Name IT) as well as the independent J. Lindeberg brand. Although there is cooperation between Bestseller inEurope and Bestseller in China, most designs for the Chinese market are created and manufactured in China.
Merete Bech Povlsen and Troels Holch Povlsen founded Bestseller in Denmark in 1975. The family-owned clothing and accessories company
makes fast, affordable fashion for women, men, teens and children and is headquartered in Brande, Denmark.

KEEPING UP WITH MARKET TRENDS
In a competitive apparel market, BFGC faces pressure to get on-trend pieces tomarket rapidly at affordable prices.
As Dan Friis, CEO at BFGC explains, “The consumer market in China is very
dynamic, especially in digital commerce. The consumer expects the latest trends
at very affordable prices. This puts great pressure on our supply chain in terms ofbeing more flexible and responsive, and to cut both costs and lead times.”FOUNDATION FOR DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
There was a major push within Bestseller China to select a PLM partner, withstrong corporate support. After a selection process, BFGC chose Centric
Software’s flagship PLM solution, Centric 8.

“COMMUNICATION ACROSSTEAMS HAS BECOME A LOTSMOOTHER. PEOPLE CAN RELY
ON THE INFORMATION THEYGET AND REALLY FOCUS THEIR“ENERGY ON BEING EFFICIENT“The part we like best about Centric is its configurability. Thiscreates huge value for us by cutting development costs andreducing time to market,” explains Liu Ming, Executive Assistantto CEO, Project Owner at BFGC. “We also like the fact that
it is a cloud-based solution. This means that the platform isaccessible anytime, anywhere from around the globe without
degradation in performance.”
BFGC kicked off their PLM implementation project in October
2014 with their first brand and went live in under six months inMarch 2015 with all other brands going live the following year.
As Liu Ming notes, this was achieved with the dedication of theCentric team as well as support at all levels in BFGC.
“The PLM implementation was a corporate priority. It receivedmanagement support from the very top. The project prettymuch covered everyone, including designers, buyers, logistics,
quality control and all of our suppliers. The onboarding andchange management process was not easy, but with the helpof the great team from Centric, we were able to make it.”©2018 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

AND CREATIVE.

CHALLENGES++ Fast-changing markets in China andonline retail++ Consumer expectation of speed andaffordability++ Data stored in separate places andmanaged inconsistently++ Pressure on supply chain to cut costs
and lead times++ Need to be more flexible andresponsive to trends

The aim of the project was to build a foundation for future growth that would be fully
integrated with other data systems as part of the digital transformation of BFGC, says Friis.
“At Bestseller China, we view digital transformation as a vital enabler of our continued
business growth. We worked with Centric to build a collaborative platform for our internalteams and suppliers to have a smooth exchange of data and ideas. On top of Centric
PLM, we have built our own systems to capture data and track our physical goods flowthroughout the supply chain.”

CLEAR, CONSISTENT COMMUNICATION
Since implementing Centric PLM, BFGC has experienced improved data consistency andcommunication, resulting in faster time to market and better control over the supply chain.
As Liu Ming explains, “Before using Centric, teams maintained data in separate places.
Data consistency was a big issue for us. After using Centric for a couple of seasons, things
have completely changed. Communication across teams has become a lot smoother.
People can rely on the information they get and really focus their energy on being efficientand creative.”

RESULTS++ Smoother communication acrossteams with reduced email traffic++ Reliable, consistent data enables
more efficiency and creativity++ PLM provides a clear work structure++ Visual interface makes it easy fordesigners to work with PLM++ PLM enables more seamlessexperience for consumers, online
and offline

Leo Jie, Buying Manager for ONLY at BFGC, notes that preparation before the project
began and integration with existing processes were key aspects of the success of the PLM
implementation.
“The good thing about working with Centric was that before we launched thesystem, we had several meetings to discuss processes and our needs. So
when we went live, the process went quite smoothly without major hiccups.
The communication flow is very clear because email traffic is reduced andPLM provides a defined work structure. Everybody knows what to fill in at
what stage.”“It was fairly easy to adapt PLM into our daily work, because we had been
mainly using Excel, email and Adobe Illustrator,” he continues. “It was easy tointegrate these three tools into one system in PLM. Centric PLM has a veryaccessible visual setup for designers, which is important for us.”
Implementing Centric PLM has had a strong impact on Bestseller China’s
strategy for online retailing directly to consumers, says Dan Friis.
“For the realization of our digital commerce and retail strategy, the system
also represents an important backbone which makes it possible for us tobring new business scenarios to market and accommodate a more seamlessexperience between online and offline for our consumers.”

FLYING HIGH WITH SKYLINE
In 2018, Centric Software rolled out its groundbreaking Skyline architecture
for Centric 8 PLM, which allows customers with up to 10,000 users togeographically distribute data in real time across the globe. As Bestseller
China grows, with an ever-increasing amount of data and complex global
web of communication, Skyline is an invaluable asset to the PLM project.
“The Skyline project is the performance boost we’ve been longing for,”says Liu Ming. “As we grow from season to season, we have tons of data tomanage. We need the system to be extremely fast. We also need the datain Centric to be accessible for analytical purposes. This is what the Skyline
project will provide us with.”“Centric’s biggest strength is their people,” he concludes. “They are deeply
rooted in the industry and they have rich experience in what they do.
Working with the Centric team continues to be a real pleasure.”©2018 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved.

ABOUT BESTSELLER FASHION GROUP CHINA
Bestseller Fashion Group China (BSFG), member of the Bestseller Group, Denmark, bestseller.com, is a clothing and accessories company
owned by the Holch Povlsen family, Denmark, and two Danish business partners, Dan Friis and Allan Warburg, in China. The group designs
collections for more than 6,000 stores in China. Merete Bech Povlsen and Troels Holch Povlsen founded Bestseller, a family-owned
clothing and accessories company, in Denmark in 1975. Bestseller provides fast, affordable fashion for women, men, teens and children.
Headquartered in Brande, Denmark, Bestseller markets its products online, in more than 3,000 branded chain stores, and in 12,000 multibrand and department stores worldwide.

ABOUT CENTRIC SOFTWARE
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 flagshipproduct 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 ExcellenceAward in 2012. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015, and 2016.

www.centricsoftware.com©2018 Centric Software Inc. All rights reserved. Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software.
All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.