“Last year we acquired the Italian Perfumery business of TNS Infratest, which was part of international market information provider Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS). The acquisition strengthened our position as the leading provider of comprehensive sales tracking information for the Selective Beauty industry in Europe and the U.S. This was an important step forward for us, allowing us to offer the industry a consistent and unmatched view of the beauty market in France, Italy, and the U.S.,” said Martine Ringwald. “Another recent development is that we have added market-level applications such as store groups and customized areas to our studies for clients in France, as well as weekly reports on fragrance and cosmetics market share. Now we can help our clients dig deeper into the ‘whys’ of the beauty trends we’re seeing. We’re also planning to expand tracking services in Italy in 2007 and to bring BeautyTrends into countries such as Spain and Germany.”

See press release @ http://www.npd.com/dynamic/releases/press_051012a.html

“DisplaySearch, an NPD Group company as of October 2005, is the worldwide leader in flat panel display market research and consulting, offering the industry’s only total global market view. Our breadth is based on having analysts in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, mainland China, and the U.S., and representatives in Europe and Canada. Right now, our DisplaySearch colleagues in Asia are busy planning the upcoming DisplaySearch Japan Forum, which will be held July 4-5. In addition, we plan to expand our presence in Asia and open new offices in Europe in the near future,” said Ross Young.

“In Mexico, we have leveraged NPD’s expertise and best practices for collecting, analyzing, and reporting sales activity for the Consumer Electronics, Imaging, and Appliances industries. With support from our Mexican retail partners, we have improved the quality of our POS data input, allowing us to enhance the quality and timing of our marketplace measurement reports to our manufacturer clients and retail partners. To continue growing our tracking services in Mexico, we plan to add two categories in the fall: refrigerators and in-dash CD players,” Edmundo Girault said.

“The highlight of 2006 so far is that we have welcomed a new general manager for our business in Japan, Junichiro Suzuki. He will provide the leadership needed to help us broaden our reach into other industries and leverage the investment in our 200,000-member panel in Japan. In addition, we have formally separated from our original partner in the JapanCREST business. As a result, in the coming year, our teams in Tokyo and Port Washington will be working to standardize our Japanese and U.S. databases,” said Bob O’Brien. “We’re also excited to explore other opportunities in Japan, and we’ve already done some test studies for potential new product categories. The strength of our panel in Japan means we can field ad hoc and tracking studies, and we have the staff to support new products and services that are relevant to the Japanese market.”

“We are introducing a bevy of new services in Europe. We recently launched SupplyTrac in Germany. Whereas EuroCREST reports on consumer purchases of meals and snacks in commercial restaurants, convenience and food stores, workplace canteens, and vending machines, SupplyTrac allows us to track – for the first time ever – manufacturers’ market shares in the Foodservice environment. This means our clients can examine where restaurants buy, which products on a SKU basis they use, and how manufacturers are faring competitively. We have also developed MenuTrac, a tool that allows restaurant chains to optimize and better manage their menus. Future plans include bringing our SalesTrac services into some of the smaller European countries, collecting CREST  information through the Web, and expanding our services into Italy next year,” said Jochen Pinsker.

“Several months ago, online data collection began for our CREST and SnackTrack services here in Canada. The cooperation among our Canadian team, the New York-based support departments, and our U.S. Foodservice and Food & Beverage groups in Chicago has been outstanding. Our global clients will be happy to see that our CREST and SnackTrack businesses are aligned with their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe,” said Larry Moore, who recently assumed leadership of NPD’s Canadian businesses after many years in our Houston-based Automotive division. “And in other big news from Canada, NPD has a new home! We traded our cramped quarters for new office space, and we’re enjoying our new surroundings.”

SPORTS: COMMON GOALS

“Our exciting news here is that we have expanded our coverage by launching the first-ever POS apparel product for Germany and France. Sports Tracking Europe (STE) offers international marketers consistent country-by-country market information on consumers’ athletic footwear, sports apparel, and sports equipment purchases. Since we’ve added outdoor/running apparel in Germany, and multi-sport men’s products in France, our information is even more comprehensive than ever,” said Eva Dorobek. “We’re also excited about the launch of our new POS footwear service in the U.K., which boasts the largest footwear market in the entire E.U., and a similar POS service in the Netherlands. By expanding our business to these new locales, NPD can provide a view of the Sports market in Europe and the U.S. that no other company can match.”

“EuroToys is the only pan-European service that tracks retail sales and consumer purchasing of toys and games,” said Anna Scott. “Working with more than 120 clients in Europe, we track nearly two million items across 185 different retail groups. We recently launched POS data services for Poland and Belgium, adding to the successful weekly data services in place for the U.K., Italy, and France. We are working on further expansion into countries such as Portugal, Austria, and the Netherlands in the coming year, and launching a Back-to-School product in France and Spain. Combined with our services in the U.S., we truly have a global perspective on the toys and video games industry – and many of our clients rely on us for information on both the U.S. and European markets,” Scott said.