Nielsen, NPD Group Team on Omnishopper Measurement

Nielsen and The NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y.-based provider of sales and market information for general merchandise and foodservice, have formed a joint alliance that the companies said “reimagines the future of omnishopper measurement.”

For many retailers and manufacturers, gaining visibility into the total store and understanding the shopping habits of consumers who move easily between online and offline shopping is key to survival in today’s fragmented marketplace. In response, Nielsen and NPD are building a large-scale, comprehensive omnishopper consumer panel, combining Nielsen’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) consumer measurement and NPD’s general merchandise consumer measurement to offer insight into emerging omnishoppers, encompassing all shoppers across all channels, and all products across all categories.  

Since no single panel will meet all measurement needs, the Omnishopper panel will connect to various consumer data sources to comprehensively track shopper behavior online and offline across all products and all categories. This innovative approach will follow the consumer across an ever-expanding landscape of digital and physical touchpoints, among them expanding brick- and-mortar and e-tail players, and increase visibility into smaller trip occasions. Further, it will enhance data granularity by employing Nielsen’s and NPD’s deep product-reference data and retail market measurement truth sets to provide accurate omnishopper insights.

“Brands and retailers need to see the total picture as purchasing options and shoppers’ habits continue to evolve,” said NPD CEO Karyn Schoenbart. “Together we are building a diverse, representative and comprehensive omnishopper panel, utilizing NPD’s pioneering receipt- harvesting technology, that will provide previously unavailable quality measurement across all brands, all industries and all channels.”

“We are bringing to the table a fundamentally new approach that starts with gaining a solid understanding of the omnishopper, built to capture a consumer’s ‘share of life,’ and ends with a framework for clients that is truly future-proofed,” noted John Tavolieri, chief product and technology officer at New York-based Nielsen.  “In our pursuit to help our clients measure, predict and activate on well-informed data across established and emerging retailers, we couldn’t be more delighted to expand our alliance with NPD to broaden our measurement of the total consumer.”

Important milestones in the development of Nielsen’s Total Consumer measurement framework include ecommerce measurement and Nielsen Omnichannel View, which reveals total market performance by channel. Additionally, over the past year, the company has made broader strategic investments in its panel business to boost the coverage, usability and quality of its panel offerings, most notably increasing its capabilities in mobile collection, projection methodologies, segment representation, and access via Nielsen Connect.  

Added Tavolieri, “Nielsen is investing in the future of consumer measurement; we are enriching connected metrics through reference data and adopting a total consumer mindset, one that is broader, more personal, open and connected.”