ACNielsen Prepares For Retail Industry Change
By George Anderson
The retail world is changing and ACNielsen (a RetailWire sponsor) has announced new initiatives that better reflect the present realities of the business while anticipating future
developments.
ACNielsen, a VNU company, has introduced a new solution that it claims tracks consumer purchases across retail channels including food, drug, mass merchandise, convenience, dollar,
pet, home-improvement, warehouse-club, and toy stores. Nielsen says Wal-Mart tracking will also be included in the package.
Alice Fawver, senior vice president, Retail Measurement Services, ACNielsen U.S. Marketing, said in a released statement, “In a marketplace where consumers can find the same
product in many different outlets, complete retail coverage is essential to help manufacturers develop the right marketing and sales programs, and to help retailers understand
their competitive positions. Accurately measuring this highly complex environment is a difficult challenge, but we’re satisfied that, after careful testing, we have developed
the right solution.”
The information provider is integrating data from three sources to provide a more thorough picture of activity at retail including:
- Point of sale information captured by Scantrack.
- Consumer purchasing information from the Homescan consumer panel service.
- Shipment and other data provided by manufacturers.
ACNielsen plans to expand the service to include data from foodservice and vending outlets.
In a separate announcement made yesterday, ACNielsen said it was opening a learning laboratory for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology at its office in Schaumburg,
Ill.
Ted Fichuk, senior vice president, Retail Measurement Services, ACNielsen Global Marketing said in a released statement, “RFID technology has the potential to bring many positive
changes to our industry. We’re taking a proactive stance, making sure we’ll be ready to process information generated by the technology should it gain widespread acceptance.
We also want to serve as a source of information about the technology for our clients.”
Moderator’s Comment: What are retailers and manufacturers doing with the consumer behavior data and sales information
available to them? How will ACNielsen’s new initiatives help consumer marketer and retailer performance? – George
Anderson – Moderator