Port Washington, N.Y. — The NPD Group has entered an agreement to provide Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club with consumer tracking data on purchasing patterns across a wide variety of categories including consumer technology.
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has not released its information for use by NPD or any other research firm in recent years. And according to an NPD spokesperson, there has been no recent discussion with Wal-Mart to change that.
The new deal will provide Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club with access to information collected from NPD’s panel of over 3.5 million consumers who report on what they purchased, where, for what price, and more. The research firm said it will produce customized reports for the retailer so it and select vendors can view information on its stores’ consumer segments, category hierarchies and custom trading areas.
The retailer will receive information on market share, price points, consumer demographics, channel trends and more core market measures. For more specific needs, Wal-Mart will be able to use NPD’s custom research options.
“This is the kind of intelligence we need to continue to successfully grow our business by understanding what today’s consumer is looking for and tailoring our business to deliver it,” said Robert Atencio, VP of insights and customer strategy at Wal-Mart in a release.
In addition to consumer electronics, NPD will be the preferred provider of consumer panel data for categories including automotive aftermarket, entertainment, fashion, foodservice, home textiles, small appliances, home improvement, lawn and garden, toys and wireless handsets. It will also provide consumption information on food and beverages.
