Century 21 NYC overhauls legacy ERP infrastructure

An iconic off-price department store retailer is modernizing its enterprise and merchandising technology stack as it returns from bankruptcy.

Century 21 NYC, which is known for selling high-end designer fashions at steep discounts, reopened its legendary flagship after emerging from bankruptcy in 2023. The retailer is now implementing Jesta I.S. cloud-based merchandising ERP and analytics solutions.

Specific Jesta I.S. modules Century 21 NYC is rolling out include trade management, assortment planning, allocation, automated replenishment, pricing and promotions, mobile store inventory management, financials, and sales audit.

In addition, the retailer is considering deploying Jesta I.S. POS, omnichannel order management, loyalty, and CRM solutions in a future project phase.

Leveraging the merchandising ERP platform’s capabilities, which are based on master data including product information management (PIM) data, Century 21 NYC intends to obtain centralized, real-time enterprise visibility of omnichannel inventory, order paths and customer data.

As a result, the retailer expects to enable operational improvements such as:

• Optimizing customer-centric buying and inventory management, including the mobile tracking of merchandise in physical stores.
• Maximizing the efficiency and accuracy of comprehensive pre-season planning and in-season forecasting.
• Automating and accelerating accounting and financial processes, including three-way invoice matching.
• Centralizing the management of promotions and temporary/permanent price changes and achieving a complete view of the overall impact of all changes.
• Improving two-way communication between global vendors and its New York head office via a centralized portal for inquiries, updates and document sharing.
• Syncing data among the head office, store and e-commerce systems more efficiently and in real time in a reliable, stable environment.

"We’ve put a lot of technology into the reimagined Century 21 NYC to eliminate friction in the brand experience," said Larry Mentzer, COO at Century 21 NYC. "Jesta’s cloud ERP solution will improve data visibility, availability and accuracy as well as many business processes across the Century 21 NYC organization. The system will enable us to focus on what we do best: procuring great designer merchandise and offering seamless in-store experiences so that Century 21 NYC can get back into growth mode."

"Jesta’s cloud Merchandising ERP anchored by composable and scalable architecture, and optimized by an unmatched analytics engine is designed to help retailers like Century 21 NYC navigate and scale complex digital transformations," said Arvind Gupta, president at Jesta I.S. "Century 21 NYC is an iconic and resilient institution. We’re thrilled to be a partner in their remarkable comeback journey."