Kantar Retail Buys Italian Sales Software Firm XTEL

WPP's shopper data and analytics consultancy Kantar Retail has acquired sales automation software company XTEL, in Italy. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 1991, Bologna-based XTEL supplies software, analytics, mobile and cloud solutions to consumer goods manufacturers, for use in analysing and improving various processes such as sales planning, trade promotion management, retail execution and pricing. For the year ended 31st December 2013, the company's unaudited revenues were EUR 8.3m.

As part of the acquisition, XTEL MD Alessandro Bosi will report to Phil Smiley, co-CEO of Kantar Retail, who says the combination should create 'an offer of huge interest to the market', and will develop new integrated solutions for everything from planning sales and promotions to category management and retail execution.

Web sites: www.kantarretail.com and www.xtelgroup.com .