IRI and SPINS Partnership to Drive New Insights and Accelerated Growth of Natural/Organic Industry

Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) and SPINS announced a partnership to accelerate the growth of the natural and organic products industry by integrating SPINS’ unique natural/organic food segmentation and industry expertise with IRI’s Consumer Network household panel. This will create a powerful new natural/organic segmentation capability that empowers CPG manufacturers and retailers to more effectively identify and market to consumers and shoppers in the fast growing natural/organic sector.  IRI is the global leader in innovative solutions and services for consumer, retail and over-the-counter healthcare companies.  SPINS is the leading information and insights provider for the natural and specialty products industry. "Our relationship with SPINS significantly expands IRI’s coverage within the natural/organic products industry and overall health and wellness sector,” said Robert I. Tomei, president of Consumer & Shopper Marketing, IRI. “It also enables us to collaborate with recognized domain experts to best understand business implications and offer the optimal natural and organic-based information, and consumer and shopper-based segmentation solutions to our clients.” As a result of this collaborative, comprehensive approach to understanding and segmenting consumers, an innovative perspective of consumers in the rapidly growing natural and organic as well as health and wellness sectors is now possible.  This unique perspective is based on an integrated view of how these unique consumers think, shop and buy, as well as insights to understand and anticipate their needs.  Integrating and activating those insights with IRI’s core consumer and shopper solutions empowers marketers to effectively execute strategic plans for distribution, marketing, trade spending and new product development. The IRI Consumer Network panel leverages in-home scanner-based purchase reporting and proprietary analytical solutions to assist manufacturers and retailers in assessing volume and share level trends based upon what is happening in the home: who is buying, where, how often, the level of brand and retailer loyalty, and the impact of consumer and shopper promotions. "The natural products market topped $80 billion in 2012. In the past year, nearly every household in the U.S. purchased natural products and more than two-thirds of households are buying organic products," said Tony Olson, owner and chief executive officer of SPINS. "The natural products industry continues to experience double-digit growth year over year, and to sustain this growth, the market needs complete solutions. We are thrilled to partner with IRI to provide manufacturer and retailer clients with advanced insights into the natural consumer so they can continue to respond to the growing demand and propel the industry forward.”