In-Store Analytics Alliance for Nielsen

Nielsen has announced a strategic alliance with RetailNext, which provides in-store analytics for bricks-and-mortar retailers. Nielsen becomes RetailNext's preferred channel for its service, which uses cameras and mobile tech to track shopper activities.

This technology will now be combined with Nielsen's sales performance, promotion, pricing, merchandising and assortment information, helping clients to understand what shopper behavior means for them and gauge the real world impact of changes to their store, aisle and category layout.

Based in San Jose, California, RetailNext completed a $30m round of financing eight months ago and said it would be expanding operations in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and other, emerging markets. The company measures the behavior of more than one billion shoppers per year, collecting data from tens of thousands of sensors in retail stores.

Pat Dodd, Nielsen's President of Global Retail, says of the alliance: 'As we continue to deepen our relationships with our broad base of CPG retailers, we are committed to collaborating with the best in the industry to bring impactful solutions to retailers and help them grow their business. We are excited about the opportunity to share RetailNext's advanced technology solutions with them and believe this collaboration will be a game-changer for the industry.'

Alexei Agratchev, CEO and co-founder of RetailNext, comments: 'Given Nielsen's leadership in the marketplace and their extensive evaluation process, to be chosen to collaborate with them is a real validation of RetailNext's innovative capabilities.'

The partners are on the web at www.nielsen.com and www.retailnext.net .