Daily Research News Online no. 2378 - New Web Based Retail Driver Intelligence Tool

New Web Based Retail Driver Intelligence Tool

May 24 2003

Information Resources, in conjunction with Marketing Analytics, has announced the launch of Drivers on Demand, a new web-based business intelligence application that provides consumer packaged goods sales and marketing managers with automated, model-driven analysis of retail sales drivers.

Drivers on Demand uses an easy-to-understand, graphic-driven interface to demonstrate how sales changes compared to a prior period are due to any of ten different sales drivers, including distribution, base price, merchandising support, and competitive activity. The application's drill-down graphs enable managers to quickly trace the source of a sales trend from the total manufacturer level down to individual brands, sizes, and SKUs, and from total US geography down to regions, markets, and retail accounts.

'Drivers on Demand not only shows what is happening at retail, but also provides a comprehensive model-based explanation of why it's occurring, without requiring days or weeks of analysis,' said Neil Canter, division president of IRI's Analytic Insights Group. 'It dramatically reduces the time from analysis to action and makes advanced analytic insights easily and immediately available to a broader audience.'

Drivers on Demand combines IRI's InfoScan store-level sales data and proprietary modeling capabilities with Marketing Analytics' automation capabilities and web applications to address managers' growing need for answers to questions such as:

What were the causes of last month's sales declines in San Francisco and Miami?
How has aggressive competitive price discounting impacted our sales, and how should we respond?
How effective was last month's promotion, and how did it impact other products in our portfolio?

'Drivers on Demand is different from simple intelligent alert or promotion planning applications,' added Ross Link, president of Marketing Analytics. 'This product takes Marketing Analytics' work in model automation to an entirely new level by seamlessly integrating store-level sales response models with IRI's sales tracking data to deliver results of leading-edge statistical models in simple graphics so users across all levels can benefit.'

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.