IRI (company)

IRI
Private
Industry Market Research
Founded 1979
Headquarters Chicago, Illinois, United States
Key people
 Andrew Appel, president and chief executive officer[1]
Owner New Mountain Capital
Number of employees
 5,000[2]
Website www.iriworldwide.com

IRI is a market research company headquartered in the U.S. which provides clients with consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and analysis focused on the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.

History

Information Resources, Incorporated (IRI) was formed in Chicago in 1979 by market researcher John Malec and Gerald Eskin, a University of Iowa marketing professor.[3] The two purchased scanners for supermarkets to gather point-of-sale data based on bar codes in grocery stores that could be sold to CPG companies to track what customers purchase.[4] IRI became a public company in 1983.[5] By 1993 Fortune Magazine named IRI a "company to watch" for expanding into two of its biggest markets: analyzing nationwide scanner data on consumer products and producing computer software. At that time slightly more than half IRI's revenues came from Infoscan, its marketing data service.[6]

In late 2003, IRI was acquired by a joint-venture cooperation between enterprise software provider Symphony Technology Group and investment capital firm Tennenbaum Capital Partners.[7]

In April 2013, SymphonyIRI Group, Inc. announced that it was rebranding as IRI.[8] In March 2011, New York-based private equity firm New Mountain Capital bought SymphonyIRI.[9] The company announced that it was changing its name back to Information Resources Inc., or IRI.[8]

In September 2013, IRI acquired Aztec, a provider of market measurement and related services for consumer packaged goods (CPG), liquor and pharmaceutical manufacturers and retailers in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This was the largest acquisition in IRI’s history and significantly expanded IRI’s geographic presence.[10]

Management

In February 2004, IRI named former Electronic Data Systems Corp executive Scott Klein as its president and CEO, succeeding Joe Durrett.[11] Klein served as CEO until October 2007, when he moved to IRI's parent company, Symphony Technology Group, and was succeeded by former Salesforce.com executive John Freeland.[12]

In June 2012, SymphonyIRI Group, Inc. appointed former Aon COO and McKinsey & Company senior partner, Andrew Appel, as president and CEO to succeed John G. Freeland, who moved to an interim role as executive vice chairman.[3][13]

Products and publications

  • IRI Liquid Data (ILD) – The Liquid Data technology platform offers data management capabilities driven through hardware, software, patented algorithms, industry models, data integration and supporting applications that are offered as a hosted service or as a separate infrastructure within the customer’s legacy data environment. The platform holds data in a flat or unstructured universe of points and leverages predictive automated analytics to generate information and insights to support specific decisions in minutes.[5]
  • Infoscan - Each week several thousand grocery, drug, and department stores deliver the product data collected by their scanners. IRI sorts, analyzes, and verifies product price and volume, and then delivers final Infoscan sales information to its customers via tape, disk, or on-line service.[6]
  • Consumer Network - This consumer panel provides a view into consumer behavior by various household demographic groups. This platform is supplemented by a series of integrated insights, shopper and specialty panels, which are enabled through a new portable, personal collection device.[5]

References

  1. ↑ James Verrinder (June 6, 2012). "SymphonyIRI appoints Appel as new CEO". Research Live.
  2. ↑ "Company Overview of Information Resources, Inc". Bloomberg L.P. August 4, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Brigid Sweeney (February 20, 2016). "IRI's new purpose in consumer research". Crain's Chicago Business.
  4. ↑ Adam Kivel (September 21, 2017). "IRI and the Hub of the Data Ecosystem". Sync Magazine.
  5. 1 2 3 "Honomichl Top 50 Report" (PDF). American Marketing Association. January 2012.
  6. 1 2 JOHN LABATE (December 27, 1993). "COMPANIES TO WATCH". CNNMoney.
  7. ↑ Jack Neff (June 30, 2003). "IRI TO BE SOLD FOR $108.4 MILLION". Adage.
  8. 1 2 "SymphonyIRI Rebrands to IRI". Supermarket News. April 16, 2013.
  9. ↑ "IRI: Crafting A Crystal Ball With Consumer Spending Data" (PDF). New Mountain Capital. October 2015.
  10. ↑ Michael Johnsen (September 4, 2013). "IRI acquires Aztec from Aegis Media". Drug Store News.
  11. ↑ Jack Neff (February 3, 2004). "IRI NAMES NEW PRESIDENT-CEO". Adage.
  12. ↑ Jack Neff (October 2, 2007). "FREELAND TAKES CEO POST AT IRI". Adage.
  13. ↑ "SymphonyIRI Names Appel President, CEO". Supermarket News. June 6, 2012.
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