CHICAGO -- IRI, which provides solutions and services for consumer, retail and over-the-counter healthcare companies, has announced an exclusive alliance with GuestMetrics, known for capturing point-of-sale (POS) data virtually anywhere people consume a product on premise, particularly in the bar, restaurant, foodservice and hospitality sectors.
IRI is also taking an equity position in the company.
"Our alliance and investment in GuestMetrics furthers the IRI strategy of helping manufacturers and retailers gain new levels of knowledge about how people research, shop and consume food and beverage products everywhere—from bars to restaurants, to homes," says Piyush Chaudhari, president of the Americas for IRI, Chicago. "We believe integrating GuestMetrics' data in the restaurant and food service space with IRI data will enable CPG decision makers to drive growth of their brands everywhere they are sold."
Through this alliance, IRI clients will have the opportunity to access data on consumer purchases made on premise--food purchased and consumed at a restaurant. This data will be integrated with the existing IRI off-premise purchase information for food and beverage products purchased at grocery stores, mass merchandisers and other retailers, and consumed at home. Marketers can study the impact of on-premise sales on off-premise purchase behavior, and more effectively coordinate activities to maximize the opportunities within both channels.
Scott Scanlon, principal at IRI, told CSP Daily News, "IRI is excited to provide our clients with an exclusive read of how consumer purchases made on-premise translates into off-premise purchases with combined IRI and GuestMetrics data. A more complete understanding of the linkages between off-premise and on-premise consumption is particularly important to the convenience industry with its high correlation across on-premise beverage categories as well as the central role foodservice and instant consumables play in the channel, including increased visibility into pricing, promotion and product trends."
The GuestMetrics alliance and investment joins several recent IRI initiatives to integrate a wider range of shopper data. In February, IRI announced it is collaborating with Technomic to produce Restaurant to Retail (R2R) Insights, a new joint service offering that integrates shopper habits at retail with spending patterns at major chain restaurants.
"Manufacturers are aggressively moving their brands on premise, creating new, exciting opportunities to spark off-premise sales and market share lift," said Bill Pecoriello, CEO of GuestMetrics, Leesburg, Va. "We hope that together with IRI, our data combined will help give all customers better insights so they can maximize their understanding of their shoppers as they roll out new products."
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