NPD To Begin Providing Market-Level Sales Data
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 6/19/2006
Port Washington, N.Y.— The NPD Group will offer sell-through information on CE and IT products within the nation's top 50 markets beginning in late summer.
NPD currently provides national views of product sales based on point-of-sale data that is aggregated from 20,000 storefronts of 74 national, regional and local retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, RadioShack and Target. The company's new Retail Track Market will allow it to cull market-specific sales data on 130 technology categories based on ZIP code and tailor the information to clients' trading areas or sales territories. This would be a boon to manufacturers and national chains in their regional and local-market planning, and would provide regional and single-market retailers with more actionable information, NPD said.
“The Retail Track Market is a powerful tool for both retailers and manufacturers,” Bill Lucas, president of NPD's retail business group, told TWICE. “It provides a common view of data at a level that will be a lot more actionable in a tactical sense.”
NPD is adding more regional and local dealers to its database, which will enable it to drill down into additional market areas, Lucas said.
“The importance of having a comprehensive and geographically representative sample of retailers in key regions throughout the country is vital to the success of this effort. NPD is leveraging its high-quality data and extensive retailer relationships to provide accurate and actionable information that will help businesses make more informed decisions at a local level,” Lucas said.
Allowing clients to more precisely target customers and prospects, the Retail Track Market will help pinpoint over- or under-performing markets and allow companies to adjust their strategies accordingly, according to Lucas
The NPD information is based on scanner data that is collected weekly from participating retailers. Reports are issued on a monthly basis, and no information on specific retailers or stores is released to protect dealer confidentiality, Lucas said.
The NPD Group has provided comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries since 1967. For more information on the new regional information service, contact Lucas or Emil Martinez at (516) 625-0700.
