GfK Buys Virtual Shopper Software Firm NORM

GfK has acquired a Swedish software company, NORM Research & Consulting AB, whose core product simulates environments for virtual shopper research.

NORM was founded in 2003 by Anders Örbom and Andreas Lee and employs 60 people at offices in Stockholm and Amsterdam. Its cloud-based Simstore platform, developed over ten years, creates photo-realistic two- and three-dimensional shopping environments allowing clients to analyse shopper behaviour and optimise their pricing, planning and promotions. Simulated environments can either be brick-and-mortar or online retailing layouts.

Simstore has already been used in more than 30 countries and the firms say the arrival of GfK will allow it to roll out to many more. Debra A. Pruent, Member of the Management Board at GfK and responsible for the Consumer Experiences sector says NORM is one of the leaders in such technology, adding: 'The scalable software is an ideal complement to the GfK portfolio in shopper research and provides an enormous competitive advantage'.

Örbom says the combination of the two companies' skills in this area offers 'a unique suite of shopper research tools'. He comments: 'As pioneers in virtual shopper research, we have put our passion and expertise in developing an optimal software solution. Under the umbrella of GfK, we can now scale and integrate our technology into a global shopper portfolio'. Adds Lee: 'We are very excited to become part of GfK. The new setup will further strengthen our development of innovative methods to understand and predict shopper behavior'.

Web sites: www.gfk.com and www.norm.se .