The Silicon Valley-based software company is looking to benefit from the retail boom in the country, especially in food and personal care categories and is even expanding its presence here
Mumbai: Silicon Valley-based software as a service (Saas) company Centric Software, reputed globally for its product life cycle management software, is planning to expand its presence in India by increasing its team and widening its target markets to include food and beverage (F&B) and cosmetics, the company’s leadership told IndiaRetailing.
The company’s top brass including Stacy Charbin, Global CMO; Jason Lee, Business Director APAC and Ruchir Shankar, Director India were in Mumbai earlier to meet its vendors and media and share its plans.
“We see big growth in India, which has become a hot market. After Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, manufacturers, OEM and ODMs are looking at moving their production to India. We want to ride this wave,” shared Lee adding that the company, which set up its India office three years ago, now has people in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and New Delhi looking after its business in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The company has been present in India through a development partner for nearly a decade but has recently begun tapping the country as a market for its products. It has clients like Trent Ltd., Style Union, and Chennai Silks among others.
The company, which is present in 56 countries across the world, started with solutions for fashion and apparel. Today, it serves several verticals including F&B, Retail, home décor and Furniture, Consumer goods and footwear among others.
“We are really looking to expand more into food and beverage as well as cosmetics and personal care in India. They’re newer verticals for Centric, but we think there’s a huge potential and that’s going to be fun because you have so many different cuisines,” Charbin said adding that snack foods was a big category for the company with several clients in the space.
While the company is looking to work with enterprise-grade clients, it is also open to working with small retailers and startups.
“We have people who, having used our solution with a prior company, come to us when they join a startup or start something on their own as they have grown used to using efficient tools,” the CMO explained.
“Then there are small retailers who want to get digitally enabled but they want to skip a step and opt for the right solution from the start,” she added explaining the kind of customers the company is willing to work with in India.
In addition, Centric wants to help retail businesses capitalise on the next big trends—Artificial Intelligence and sustainability.
“We have solutions which can help brands evaluate not only the cost of a product but also meet sustainability goals,” explained Lee adding that the company intends to bring all the products and solutions to the Indian market which it offers in other countries.
Centric Software creates solutions that help its customers plan, design, develop, source, buy, make, price, allocate, sell and replenish products. Some of its global clients include Sephora, Crocs, Decathlon, Fila, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Abercrombie & Fitch and Bestseller among others.
For now, the software major will focus on establishing its presence in the lucrative market of India. “Market penetration & revenue growth, services operational efficiency & scalability and brand recognition & client satisfaction will be the top priorities for Centric in India,” Ruchir Shankar, who is the India director shared.
