NHMA, NIELSEN COLLABORATE TO PROVIDE HOUSEWARES DATA

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- The National Housewares Manufacturers Association, here, and A.C. Nielsen Company, Chicago, have formed a partnership to provide syndicated point-of-sale data to the housewares industry.

distribution or specific chain, and learn how a coupon or promotional program affects product sales. Almost 65% of categories considered housewares are reporting data. NHMA had planned to enter into a similar agreement with Information Resources Inc., Chicago, but the deal fell through, in part, because Target Stores, Minneapolis, declined to provide point-of-sale data. Though Target is not reporting under the Nielsen agreement, NHMA felt Nielsen's methodology could better compensate for the lack of data, according to Philip Brandl, director of marketing and trade development. NHMA will produce quarterly reports with Nielsen on 14 product categories: electrics (kitchen, household, lighting), cook and bakeware, tabletop, decorative accessories, cleaning and stick goods, bathroom and personal care, kitchen tools and gadgets and textiles, space organizers and closets and clothing care, juvenile products, pet supplies, furniture, home office, outdoor and hardware, and seasonal and impulse products. In other news, NHMA is developing a housewares-industry electronic bulletin board that will provide users online access to industry information, e-mail and the Internet for a flat subscription fee. The service will be launched early September. Additionally, more than 200 housewares manufacturers have joined the Value-Added Network group-buy program. VANs are used to exchange electronic data interchange documents between two trading partners. The NHMA VAN opened to all NHMA members last September and is offered through GE Information Services. At the rate members are joining, NHMA expects to hit the 25% discount level, which is $85,000 aggregate monthly volume, by the end of 1995. The current aggregate monthly volume is $60,000.