CHICAGO and SAN FRANCISCO – Feb. 28, 2006 – During the two years since the company’s acquisition by Symphony Technology Group, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) has focused on changing the value proposition for its consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare clients by striving for a ten-fold increase in the value its clients realize from its market information, analytic and decision support software solutions. At this week’s Reinventing CPG and Retail Summit 2006, IRI unveiled its formal program for innovation, which is focused on developing predictive, on-demand analytic applications designed to empower clients to manage their businesses for profitable growth.
IRI, the leading global provider of enterprise market solutions, also announced plans for new solutions and research efforts that utilize the company’s MarketKnowledge™ innovation platform, daily data from retailers, automated analytics and sophisticated models for predictive views of developing trends, demand curves, new product launch success, and likely out-of-stock instances.
Four Areas of Innovation Focus
IRI has organized its innovation program into four solution suite areas:
- Consumer Understanding: Offering a deep understanding of shoppers, consumers and individual users, this suite answers such critical questions as: What are consumers buying, and when, where, how and why are they buying it? How do different consumer segments react to promotion programs? How do trip missions affect purchasing, and can we predict how attitudes might change?
- Market Performance: Recognizing that to be successful, a predictive and integrated view of the total retail marketplace, including granular information about each account by geography is required, this solution area addresses such vital issues as: How is my brand performing across all retail outlets, by account, by store? What is the optimal price for my product by account, by region, by neighborhood, by store? What are the elements driving daily performance with my key customers?
- Retail Performance: Providing the ability to monitor and assess critical in-store conditions on demand, these solutions address such questions as: How can manufacturers and retailers collaborate to maximize performance and profitability? Can manufacturers and retailers anticipate demand, store by store? Or, can they identify likely out-of-stock situations in time to correct them? How can assortments be optimized, categories be managed, price and promotion plans be optimized by region and by store? How can space planning maximize profitability? What’s going on in the total store, including produce sales, and how can promotion dollars be effectively spent?
- New Product Management: Understanding that successful new product innovation and launch require predictive performance measures on demand to quickly remediate reality versus planned objectives, these unique solutions address vital questions, such as: Can we anticipate a successful new flavor, color, nutritional profile, packaging, or health attribute in time to build it into our new product portfolios? Once we launch a product, can we quickly predict whether it’s likely to succeed?
IRI is investing in its MarketKnowledge innovation platform to support these advanced applications with high-powered grid computing, new visualization tools and dashboards, the ability to deliver solutions on-demand via the web, and daily data from a growing list of retailers.
“The transformation program at IRI has been driven by a vision for an industry that is dynamic, growing, energetic and profitable,” said Symphony Technology Group and IRI Chairman Romesh Wadhwani. “Our innovation program is a commitment to our partnership with clients. It’s a commitment to give them new solutions, new insights, and powerful applications to reach their customers in new ways. We’re investing not only in our future, but in the future of our industry.”
“Our solution suites are designed to give clients new insight into consumer behavior, market activity, retail performance and new product management,” said IRI President and Chief Executive Officer Scott W. Klein. “It’s an exciting time to be in our industry.”
About Information Resources, Inc.
Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) is the world’s leading provider of enterprise market information solutions and services, empowering its clients to grow their business profitably in a complex marketplace. Driving the transformation of the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries, only IRI provides a unique combination of real-time market content, advanced analytics, enterprise performance management software, and professional services. The company’s portfolio of services, solutions, and technology enable leading retailers and their suppliers around the globe to see what they are missing, act faster with greater confidence and win at the shelf. Ninety-five percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 in CPG and retail leverage IRI to power their business. For more information, visit http://us.infores.com.