02/28/2007- IRI Tiered Distribution Suite™ for Beer, Wine and Spirits Industry Delivers Comprehensive Insights of Beverage Alcohol Distribution and Sales Performance

Suite Provides Integrated Distributor Beverage Alcohol Sales for On- and Off-Premise Channels

CHICAGO and LAS VEGAS, Feb. 28, 2007 – Building on the unique capabilities resulting from its recent acquisition of leading beverage alcohol consultancy and information provider Secant, Inc., Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), today announced the availability of IRI Tiered Distribution Suite™ for Beer, Wine and Spirits. Tiered Distribution Suite is a data collection, transformation and visualization solution that provides beverage alcohol manufacturers with visibility into retail sales and depletions throughout the distribution channel—from manufacturer to distributor to retail outlets. Retail outlets include both on-premise locations, such as restaurants, taverns, hotels, and off-premise locations, including liquor, drug, grocery and convenience stores.

Until now, beverage alcohol manufacturers have had a difficult time gaining insights into their product performance due to disparate data sources, varying distributor operating systems and inconsistent data formats. Addressing these various standards all contribute to the angst in gathering product movement data. Tiered Distribution simplifies this complicated task by delivering these insights in a single solution, so that the manufacturer enterprise, from sales and marketing to finance and operations, can easily answer the following key questions:

• Are we penetrating on- and off-premise accounts with the right products?
• Do we have distribution?
• Are my promotion dollars effective?
• Are we meeting our targets?
• How do store sales within channels compare?
• Are my products in the right stores?
• In which stores are we most vulnerable to competitive activity?
• In which stores are we gaining/losing share?
• Where are out of stocks occurring?
• Which stores are growing faster than my brands?

“Tiered Distribution Suite delivers broader distribution coverage and greater value than singular and one-dimensional sales and inventory reports,” adds Allan Latts, director, corporate planning, Heaven Hill Distilleries, the nation's largest independent, family-owned marketer and producer of distilled spirits products, which include the full line of The Christian Brothers Brandies, Evan Williams Bourbons and PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur. “It empowers us to make informed decisions about strategic planning and category and brand management.”

Available as a web-based management reporting suite, the Tiered Distribution Suite Reporting Portal offers both packaged and customized reporting solutions. A complete picture of sales and inventory is available by linking manufacturer’s data, including shipments, targets, and promotion calendars to distributor data, including depletions, retail account data, invoices, and inventory.

Specifically, the suite provides sales and category management with visibility into the following insights to drive their business: inventory position and sales of manufacturer’s products through their distributor partner warehouses, the number of total cases reported in physical and industry case equivalent metrics, depletion data that provides insights into the aggregate sale by product and SKU as well as product velocity and inventory position, and sales to retail data combined with the outlet detail providing insights into distribution health and gap analytics.

“We are dedicated to delivering game-changing capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our beer, wine and spirits partners as evidenced by this latest solution,” says Bump Williams, general manager of the IRI Beer, Wine and Spirits Practice. “Tiered Distribution Suite provides manufacturers the granular insights they need to understand their business market by market, so that they can focus marketing and sales dollars where they have the most benefit and implement successful marketing strategies.”

Additional detail about the Tiered Distribution Suite can be found at: http://us.infores.com.

IRI Beer, Wine and Spirits Practice

The IRI Beer, Wine and Spirits industry vertical provides manufacturers, distributors and retailers with market and store-level insights specific to the beverage alcohol marketplace. The practice was formed in response to the needs of manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in this segment to better understand consumer decisions related to beverage alcohol purchasing behaviors, attitudes, and preferences. The IRI Beer, Wine and Spirits industry vertical offers a complete suite of solutions, including account- and store-level tracking that help its clients monitor, comprehend, compete, and act within the rapidly evolving beverage alcohol market.

About Information Resources, Inc.

Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) is the world’s leading global provider of consumer, shopper, and retail business solutions and services, empowering consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare companies to grow their business profitably in a complex marketplace. Driving breakthrough growth in the industries it serves; only IRI provides a unique combination of real-time market content, advanced analytics, enterprise performance management software, and professional services. The company’s portfolio of services, solutions, and technology enable leading retailers and their suppliers around the globe to see what they are missing, act faster with greater confidence and win at the shelf. Ninety-five percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 in CPG and retail leverage IRI to power their business. For more information, visit http://us.infores.com.