NPD Group and Nielsen get cooking at Housewares Show

The biggest news at the International Home and Housewares Show didn’t involve a new product introduction, but rather an information sharing arrangement between The NPD Group and Nielsen that will help retailers and supplier make sense of the market.

The two firms entered into a market information agreement announced in conjunction with the big trade show held March 7-10 in Chicago. The deal combines Nielsen’s market information, including sales data from food and drug channels, with NPD’s existing housewares business, which covers mass merchants, department and specialty stores, e-commerce and other retailers. The combination of information sources delivers the most complete view of the housewares marketplace and provides a foundation for solution-oriented advanced analytics, according to NPD.

In addition, with the agreement, NPD will add census retail sales tracking for food and drug retailers to its core Retail Tracking Service. The new data will be integrated with NPD’s existing service for a consistent market view covering all major retailers and representing approximately 85% of U.S. retail sales for housewares. As a part of the agreement, NPD will also be adding categories such as kitchen gadgets, food storage, portable/travel beverageware to its coverage.

In addition to the comprehensive market view, NPD said it will offer the most granular sales data available to the industry thanks to national and local views. NPD offers weekly data reporting, which allows clients to gauge consumer reactions and more precisely respond to market conditions. NPD Account Level Reports (ALRs) allow retailers to track their performance vs. the total market, sharing that information with approved vendors to drive growth through category management.

“With more robust information, our clients will have an even better understanding of changing consumer tastes and retail dynamics,” said Karyn Schoenbart, president and COO at NPD.