07/25/2006 - Information
Resources, Inc. Acquires Secant, Inc.
IRI Acquisition of Leading Beverage Alcohol
Consultancy Delivers Expanded Market Coverage, Increased Data
Quality and Richer Information Picture Across Entire Beverage
Alcohol Marketplace
CHICAGO, July 25, 2006 – Information Resources,
Inc. (IRI), the leading global provider of enterprise market information
solutions, today announced that it has acquired the assets of
Secant, Inc., a leading beverage alcohol consultancy and information
provider offering a comprehensive portfolio of innovative data
acquisition, transformation and reporting applications specifically
focused on hard-to-measure segments of the beverage alcohol marketplace.
This acquisition builds on IRI’s leading position with beverage
manufacturers and Secant’s strong innovation and thought
leadership in the data collection and transformation space to
give IRI the opportunity to further expand its unique capabilities
in this exciting and growing market.
Secant principals Elena Amboyan and Anne Carlson have been named
senior vice presidents and will join the industry-recognized Beer,
Wine and Spirits vertical practice at IRI.
“Today’s beverage alcohol marketplace is becoming
increasingly fragmented and difficult to measure and IRI is uniquely
positioned to address the evolving marketplace,” said IRI
President and Chief Executive Officer Scott W. Klein. “To
effectively compete, beverage alcohol companies require a complete
information picture that can only be created by integrating multiple
sources of data and insight interpreted by unique domain expertise.
Elena and Anne bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise about
the beverage alcohol marketplace to further strengthen our vertical
practice. The union of IRI and Secant leverages unique capabilities
and experience only available from these two companies to deliver
that critical integrated view to help our clients win.”
The acquisition underscores the continued IRI commitment to providing
beer, wine and spirits manufacturers and retailers with broad
beverage alcohol domain expertise, supported with a comprehensive,
end-to-end view of the beverage alcohol marketplace using integrated
shipment, depletion and retail movement information for both on-
and off-premise channels.
“Secant is excited to join the IRI family and its well-respected
beverage alcohol practice to provide beverage manufacturers with
new types of intelligence for this high profile and extremely
competitive segment,” said Amboyan.
The link between on-premise and off-premise inventory movement
bridges a vast information gap and has exciting linkages to understanding
consumption behavior. The powerful combination of the highly-accurate,
census-based IRI InfoScan® tracking information, household
panel insights, advanced analytics, data integration and reporting
capabilities offered by IRI coupled with Secant’s ability
to rapidly provide product sales information from the distributor
down to the retail outlet, including both on- and off-premise
channels, delivers a comprehensive information picture across
the beverage alcohol spectrum, and subsequently increases value
to the beverage alcohol marketplace.
“The industry-leading IRI roster of beverage alcohol customers
will benefit greatly from the combined capabilities and quicker
speed–to-insight, empowering them to make more confident
business decisions faster and drive profitable growth,”
added Carlson.
For more information about the IRI Beer, Wine and Spirits practice,
visit: http://us.infores.com/page/manufacturers/beer_wine_spirits
About Secant Consulting
Secant, Inc. (www.secantconsulting.com) specializes in the consumer
packaged goods and beverage alcohol industries. Secant understands
the complexities of the alcohol beverage industry environment
and the need for data collaboration and insights throughout the
value chain. With an emphasis on accuracy, integrity and improved
frequency and coverage, Secant has structured their product offering,
Secant Meridian™, to facilitate the collection and transformation
of disparate data from distributors, military, and national accounts
to support domestic and international manufacturers with a clear
view of performance and total consumption trends.
About Information Resources, Inc.
Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) is the world’s leading
provider of enterprise market information solutions and services,
empowering its clients to grow their business profitably in a
complex marketplace. Driving the transformation of the consumer
packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries, 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.
IRI CONTACT
John McIndoe
E-mail: john.mcindoe@infores.com
Phone: (312) 474-3862
Fax: (312) 474-2592
