Information Resources and PC Data Establish Strategic Alliance To Provide Enhanced e-Marketing Services to the CPG Industry.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers and e/retailers will have dynamic, state-of-the-art tools to track, test and analyze Internet marketing programs as a result of the strategic alliance announced today between Information Resources, Inc. (Nasdaq: IRIC) and PC Data.


By linking PC Data's Internet metering technology with IRI's Shoppers' Hotline(R) panel of 55,000 households, CPG manufacturers will be able to tie Internet usage to online and offline consumer behavior. Additionally, PC Data's own panel of 120,000 households will be available to IRI customers for custom online survey research.
PC Data's Internet metering and survey capabilities become yet another component of IRI's Internet toolkit. Developed by IRI, the Internet toolkit helps CPG companies develop Internet strategies, implement those strategies and evaluate their effectiveness. PC Data joins other IRI alliance partners, Forrester Research and DoubleClick, to provide the premier Internet marketing diagnostic services in the industry.
"IRI is one of the largest and most highly respected market research organizations in the world," said Ann Stephens, CEO of PC Data. "Together we offer an extraordinary wealth of data on both online and offline consumer buying habits. These enhancements to IRI's Internet toolkit will create a single information source for CPG companies who want to further refine and target their Internet marketing and distribution strategies."
"This alliance greatly enhances IRI's Internet services to the CPG manufacturers and e/retailers. The addition of the PC Data meter to IRI's Shoppers' Hotline(R) Panel will directly link Internet usage to online/offline buying," said Daniel Sherr, IRI executive vice president for strategic business development. "Additionally, the robust PC Data panel of 120,000 home Internet users allows us to understand consumer behavior and motivations -- actually interpret what is happening at the consumer level and why it is happening -- while it's happening. All this from a single source."
About IRI
Information Resources, Inc. is a leading provider of UPC scanner-based business solutions to the consumer packaged goods industry, offering services in the U.S., Europe and other international markets. The company supplies CPG manufacturers, retailers and brokers with information and analysis critical to their sales, marketing and supply chain operations. IRI provides services designed to deliver value through an enhanced understanding of the consumer to a majority of the Fortune 500 companies in the CPG industry.
About PC Data
PC Data was established in 1991 and is a leading source of computer hardware, software and video games intelligence and data. Its PC Data Online division is a leading provider of Internet measurement and analysis. Through its 120,000 U.S. home Internet panel, the online division also fields custom Internet-based surveys. With 600 subscribers, PC Data measures web activity in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Taiwan, China and Italy.