Merger Expands Western Australia Panel

In Australia, online panel firms Quality Online Research (QOR) and Researchpanel have merged their operations to create what they describe as Western Australia's 'largest and most robust' consumer panel, with around 60,000 online members.

Sydney-based QOR is the panel arm of online research supplier Australia Online Research (AOR), which was founded by industry veteran Brian Fine in 2009.

Offshoot firm QOR offers a national online panel built from The Australian Lifestyle Survey (carried out by First Direct, a subsidiary of Australia Post). This has allowed QOR to create a census matching panel with depth of respondent profile information on a national basis. The company also owns a dedicated business panel and has recently built a mobile panel.

Established in 2009, Perth-based Researchpanel offers both online and telephone surveys as well as related services such as social research data collection, ad and brand concept testing, data processing and statistical reporting.

Fine, who will lead the new entity, says plans are already in place to expand the Western Australia panel size to 100,000+ by mid-2012, and to enlarge an associated CATI centre from 40 to 50 seats.

Web sites: www.qor.com.au , www.australiaonlineresearch.com and www.researchpanel.com.au .