IRI will be partnering with pet care and food company Mars to provide data and analytics services.
Mars is responsible for producing pet foods such as Pedigree, Whiskas and Optimum, and also food brands such as Uncle Bens, Masterfoods, Dolmio and Kan Tong.
Chief Commercial Officer, Asia Pacific for IRI Alistair Leathwood says, “IRI will be the renowned brand’s key data and analytics partner for market measurements across the Australian market for their Petcare and Food divisions.”
Mars says they have a strong commitment to technology, research and innovation.
Commercial Manager for Mars Patrick Hughes says, “The Australian grocery market is more competitive than ever. Given the importance of the relationship between brand equity and perceived value in the path to purchase; and the fast-evolving nature of online shopping; we need a highly-skilled partner with a global footprint we can trust to deliver and assist us to find opportunities and achieve growth in this disrupted environment.”
Mr Hughes notes that IRI is “well known for its ability to partner with organisations to drive growth through market expertise, cutting edge technology and customer service.”
Mars will be using “IRI’s full suite of market-leading offerings including their industry-leading technology Liquid Data and Unify reporting platform to transform the business and provide a single source of truth for [Mars] to accelerate business decisions and identify white space opportunities.”
Mr Hughes continues: “As the leading provider of data and predictive analytics, IRI will help us to create a 360-degree view of our shopper, leveraging IRI’s data, Shopper Panel and customer data solutions.”
Company goals
Mr Leathwood discusses why the partnership with Mars aligns with the company’s values, “The whole organisation is dedicated to bettering the lives of people and their pets all over the globe through the development and delivery of clever, innovative, thoughtful and relevant products.
“Mars has a reputation for designing and implementing new technologies that allow them to maintain their position as market leaders.”
Mr Hughes says Mars’ objective is to “emerge from 2021 smarter, more flexible and more in tune with changing preferences of Australian consumers. The market has obviously undergone a dramatic shift over the last 15 months, so Mars wants to stay ahead and not only shift with it – but to influence it.
“IRI’s Shopper Panel, which is the largest in Australia, will be an enormous help to Mars in figuring out where Australian shoppers are going in 2021 and beyond.”
Mr Leathwood points out that many businesses will pull back on research during recessions, “However, it’s well established that recessions are the most important time to understand your customer. Why? Because that’s when they are least predictable.
“If you want to go where consumers are going, you need to have a good grasp of the market. You need to know at a granular level what shoppers are thinking and where they are shopping.”
