APT and IRI Partner to Probe Retail Cause-and-Effect

Retail data giant Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) has announced a deal with cloud-based predictive analytics software company Applied Predictive Technologies (APT), adding the former's POS data into the latter's Test & Learn software suite.

The partners say their alliance will 'further expand the scope of data used for designing and analyzing business experiments' - adding to CPG, retail and OTC healthcare clients' understanding of the impact of their launches and promotions, and of 'cause-and-effect relationships' in their business. In particular, they aim to help those 'wrestling with analyzing large volumes of data'.

Patrick O'Reilly, President and COO of APT, says his company's cloud-based platform 'can easily integrate, update, and maintain wide-ranging datasets that enable retailers and manufacturers to make near-real time decisions across various functional areas'. Robert Tomei (pictured), President of Consumer & Shopper Marketing of IRI, said, “As we strive toward our goal to be the leader in big data for the CPG industry, we are joining forces with best-of-breed provider APT to provide a scaled offering that drives growth for our clients.' The new relationship is also 'a nice complement' to IRI's existing testing services, including Matched Market Test, Controlled Store Test, Virtual Shopping and New Media Solutions, according to Tomei.

APT has offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, London and Taipei. Web sites are at www.predictivetechnologies.com and www.iriworldwide.com .