CHICAGO and SAN FRANCISCO – Feb. 28, 2006 – To help manufacturers and retailers gain perspective into how they are executing on a store-by-store level, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), the leading global provider of enterprise market solutions, is enhancing its “Retail Performance” solutions to improve marketing, merchandising and shelving execution efforts. The new solutions, including In-store Solution Suite™, IRI Out-of-Stock Performance™ Solution, IRI Perishable Service™ for Retailers, IRI Price and Promotion Manager™ for Retailers and IRI Price and Promotion Performance™ for Manufacturers will provide a deeper understanding of promotion and display effectiveness, distribution status and sales trends and the ability to react quickly to changing market conditions.
“The ‘Retail Performance Solutions’ suite from IRI provides a comprehensive view of shelving and product placement for the total store and a deep understanding of retail performance and execution issues and opportunities that will improve overall business performance and create a long-term competitive advantage,” said IRI President and Chief Executive Officer Scott W. Klein.
IRI In-store Solution Suite
The IRI In-store Solution Suite is a collection of audit-based services that provide a comprehensive view of merchandising conditions throughout the store. The suite is comprised of the following services:
- Aisle View service drastically improves the visibility into actual shelving conditions in retail stores. It provides the opportunity to maximize sales by securing the best aisle placement for products.
- Perimeter View is a unique display tracking service that examines the performance of more than 250 categories down to the manufacturer and UPC level. The service provides the depth of coverage required to measure and improve promotion effectiveness at retail.
- Shelf View provides a thorough understanding of retail execution compliance, category space to sales relationships, impact of new entries and associated section shifts to ensure optimal shelving location and product mix.
- Front-end Benchmarking is an observational study that provides insight into cross-category trends at the front-end of the store during the last two years. It drastically improves visibility to the activity taking place at or near the register.
IRI Out-of-Stock Performance Solution
The IRI Out-of-Stock Performance Solution combines actual sales data with anticipated shipment information to deliver the only solution on the market today that can predict and reduce out of stocks. This enterprise software application quickly helps retailers and manufacturers determine the most critical out-of-stock merchandise. The solution provides out-of-stock information at a granular day, store and SKU level through its automated monitoring and analysis capabilities. When combined with information on shipments and shelf space planograms, it can pinpoint the likely root-cause drivers of out-of-stock conditions. The IRI Out-of-Stock Performance Solution improves space planning, shipment and ordering practices to proactively prevent and reduce out of stocks.
IRI Perishable Service for Retailers
Perishable products account for 30 percent of all supermarket food sales and play an increasingly critical role in establishing retailer image and competitive positioning. It is imperative for grocery retailers to have access to perishable sales data to properly manage their business, serve their customers and compete with other retailers and alternative outlets. The IRI Perishable Service for Retailers meets this demand by providing highly accurate insights for produce, fresh meat and seafood, in-store deli and bakery, bulk foods and home meal replacement categories. Integrated with IRI InfoScan® information, the service provides a complete picture of the total store by offering an in-depth understanding of sales and merchandising dynamics in perishable departments.
The IRI Perishable Service empowers retailers to evaluate, develop, and implement their perishable offering and business programs with confidence. It provides the information needed to create winning sales and marketing strategies, evaluate and improve promotions, and effectively manage the correct assortment that customers demand.
IRI Price and Promotion Manager for Retailers
The IRI Price and Promotion Manager is a powerful web-based software suite that offers an efficient and effective way to plan, forecast and optimize every day pricing based on automated rules and elasticities. It consists of multiple modules, including Pricing, Promotion and Optimization, enabling retailers and manufacturers to implement price changes immediately—regardless of their purpose or source—with ease, accuracy and confidence.
The suite brings together both everyday and promotional pricing into a single demand model, providing an accurate measure of an item’s elasticity. The advanced mathematics in its demand model is the foundation of sales, forecasting, simulation and optimization. It also provides analysis of the sales impact of all advertising, promotion and media activities, other than price, by incorporating all the variables that can affect lift.
IRI Price and Promotion Performance for Manufacturers
The IRI Price and Promomotion Performance solution is an enterprise software application that offers price and promotion analytics and planning capabilities to help manufacturers determine the right price for their products and get the best return on trade promotion investments. The solution utilizes a fully integrated set of data, including key performance indicators and key customer and market insights affected by price and promotion tactics. Powerful predictive models also let manufacturers simulate the results of planned price changes before they are implemented.
With Price and Promotion Performance, manufacturers can accurately position, price and promote their products to deliver the best results.
For more information on these solutions, visit: http://us.infores.com
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.