Information Resources Doubles Number of Stores in Its US National Tracking Service 06/07/00 Information Resources, Inc has introduced two strategic scanner-based tracking service enhancements. This will enable the company to extend its existing coverage and offer new coverage to consumer packaged goods manufacturers. With the launch of InfoScan® 2000, information from more than 32,000 food, drug and mass merchandise stores is now part of the national InfoScan projection system. Previously, information on these 32,000 stores was only available as part of the Retailer Market Area and Competitive Retailer Market Area services. IRI's national census-based database now includes sales tracking information based on 15,000 supermarkets (an increase of over 4,000 stores), 14,000 drugstores (an increase of over 6,000 stores), and 3,000 mass merchandise stores (an increase of over 2,700 stores including all store census data for Target and Kmart). The second enhancement to InfoScan 2000 reflects the industry's evolving view of supercentre data. Supercentre data are now included in the Grocery outlet category, better reflecting consumer purchase behaviour. It is expected that this change in supercentre placement will allow for more relevant fair share and benchmarking analyses for both retailers and manufacturers in the consumer packaged goods industry. According to Pat Miller, IRI's executive VP for InfoScan product management, "This expansion links directly to the needs of our clients to make decisions with more precision and relevance. Sales and marketing practices such as category management, new product launches and sales resource allocations continue to grow in sophistication. While the increased accuracy of the database is nice to have at the national level, it is absolutely essential as marketers look to make more localised decisions - for individual retailers, markets, and client specific regions."