We know you may be looking at Centric Software.
Here’s a quick look at why brands and retailers choose Toolio instead. Because while Centric is feature-rich, it’s also complex, costly, and rigid, often requiring extra training, paid customization, and heavier support than most teams want to manage.
Category
Purpose-Built for Retail
Ease of Use & Adoption
Flexibility
Modern Technology
Cost
Support & Updates
Integration
Built specifically for planners. Becomes the daily workspace for planning teams.
Familiar spreadsheet-like, intuitive interface that’s easy to learn for fast adoption.
Configurable across attributes and hierarchies. Quickly adapts to new channels and models.
Pure planning layer. Cloud-native and designed to integrate with any tech stack.
Predictable modular SaaS pricing. Pay only for modules your business needs.
Dedicated support included. New features, always up to date, no IT required.
Configurable ERP, POS, and e-comm integrations. Flexible data exchange.
Planning is a PLM add-on. Lacks depth and agility, with many planners reverting to Excel.
Complex interface with a steep learning curve. Requires extensive training.
Rigid, PLM-first structure. Less suited for merchandising agility.
Anchored to PLM architecture. Evolving but less flexible as a dedicated planning solution.
High license fees plus ongoing charges for customization, training, and upgrades.
Support / upgrades can take 3–6 weeks, require vendor services, adding cost and disruption.
Integrations can be rigid and resource-intensive, with data synchronization challenges.
What Makes Toolio Different
Centric PLM is powerful, but many users say its interface is cluttered and hard to navigate, making even simple tasks feel complicated. New users often face a steep learning curve and require extensive training before they can be productive.
Toolio was built to be intuitive from day one. Planners, merchants, and allocators can see only the information they need, without distractions or endless menu layers. Teams ramp quickly, so you start seeing value right away, without lengthy onboarding.
With Centric, customization often requires paying for service hours or training, and what looks like standard functionality can turn into an add-on module. Customers report that the total cost of ownership grows fast, especially when ongoing vendor help is required.
Toolio is flexible from the start. You can configure planning workflows to fit your business without relying on costly consultants. Transparent SaaS pricing means you know what you’re getting, and your team can make adjustments without extra fees.
Centric implementations can stretch over many months, with complex configuration and heavy IT involvement. Even after go-live, routine updates and reporting changes often require specialist support, slowing teams down.
Toolio is cloud-native and quick to deploy. Most customers are live in weeks, not months, and integrations are smooth without ongoing technical overhead. Once you’re up and running, planning teams, not IT, can manage and adapt the system with ease.
Features galore
Centric PLM is packed with functionality to cover nearly every stage of product development, from design through sourcing and collaboration. On paper, that means you can centralize everything in one place.
But the breadth comes with a price: the interface is complex, everyday tasks take too many clicks, and new users face a steep learning curve. Unlocking the full range of features usually requires paid training or service hours, since many configurations can’t be done in-house.
Centric also markets its add-on modules as a strength, but customers often find that what they assumed was standard functionality comes at an extra cost. If you’re prepared for a long rollout, heavy training investment, and ongoing vendor reliance, Centric can eventually deliver, but it’s rarely simple or inexpensive to get there.
Centric PLM is a...
powerful system with broad functionality for product development, but many customers say it comes with complexity, long implementations, and expensive add-ons for customization or training. If you have a large IT team and budget, and can dedicate months to roll out and user training, Centric may be an option.
Toolio, by contrast, is purpose-built for...
modern retail planning teams. It’s intuitive out of the box, quick to deploy, and flexible without requiring costly service packages. If you want planning software that your team can adopt quickly and manage easily, Toolio is the better fit.
See Toolio In Action
The best way to understand what Toolio could do for your team is to start a conversation.
