CenterStone Technologies, Inc., an internationally recognized leader in sales order management solutions, has added Helly Hansen to its client list of premium brands. Headquartered in Norway, in the town of Moss, Helly Hansen manufactures technical outerwear and layering systems for sports, work and leisure.
CenterStones work with Helly Hansen came about following its international partnership with Pulpsport S.A., a European sales order management provider for the sports and fashion industries. In June 2004, the companies teamed up to provide multi-national brands use of common order management platforms worldwide.
“Its gratifying that our strategic partnership with Pulpsport is already bearing fruit and that Helly Hansen is the first client to benefit from this global alliance,” said Tom Detmer, president and CEO of CenterStone Technologies.
“This year – in North America as well as in Europe – we made a commitment to our sales reps and dealers to be the easiest outdoor equipment and apparel company with which to do business,” said Scott Sutherland, Director of Finance of Helly Hansen (U.S.) Inc. “We also wanted to reduce our costs and eliminate any of the frustration factor in placing orders with Helly Hansen. To achieve this goal, Helly Hansen needed a global sales order management solution. The strategic partnership between CenterStone Technologies and Pulpsport provides the technology platform to handle our global sales order management initiative.”
Helly Hansen will be the first client to utilize CenterStones next-generation iVendix application, which provides sales order management functionality in five languages and handles multiple currencies. In addition, the software provides access to product availability information and worksheet order forms. Dealers and sales reps may also submit and track orders in virtual real time.
“At Helly Hansen we look for every opportunity to differentiate ourselves from the competition, and being easy to do business with is one of those differentiators. For our dealers in North America and Europe we need to offer not only the most cutting-edge products, we need to be the easiest company with which to do business,” said Sutherland. “By just logging on to CenterStone’s internet application – whether in Europe or North America – our sales reps, as well as our dealers themselves, will be able to easily place pre-season orders, check inventory availability and place reorders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ultimately, CenterStone Technologies and Pulpsport will help Helly Hansen get our products into the hands of our consumers faster and at a reduced cost.”
For 125 years, Helly Hansen has been at the forefront of product development and innovation. Since 1877, when the sea captain Helly Juell Hansen made his first “oilskin” waterproof jackets, the company has pushed the boundaries of fabric technology.
“We are delighted that Helly Hansen is the first client to go live with our iVendix international suite of order management solutions,” said Detmer. “As specialty retailers consider their ever-increasing number of potential suppliers, service as a product feature continues to grow as a critical differentiator in their decision. Through the iVendix application, Helly Hansen’s sales reps and dealers will enjoy uniform, native language access to marketing information, catalogs, product availability, order entry systems and order status throughout North America and Europe, thus adding enormous value and improving customer service on a global level.”
