NPD's Retail Business Development group is committed to a three-pronged mission: simplifying data access and ease-of-use for our retailer partners, focusing on improving data delivery and timing and enhancing our retailer-specific deliverables. The team is proud to report that in 2003, NPD made significant progress in all three areas.

Perhaps the most visible Retail Business Development achievement in 2003 - and the one most immediately useful to our Retailer Partners - was the launch of the Retailer Center Web site, a convenient online access point for retailer-specific market information. Retailer Center connects NPD Retailer Partners with all of the NPD industry reports and databases available to their organizations. Our Retailer Partners received unique user names and passwords for use on the secure site, and were offered opportunities for online training via WebEx to ensure they maximize the site's potential. It has never been easier for NPD Retailer Partners to find and use the NPD information that addresses their important business questions.

Timed to coincide with Retailer Center's launch was the introduction of NPD's Retailer Comparison Reports. These new tools allow retailers to compare their organizations' sales performance to the overall market and to competitors' performance. Now available to NPD Retailer Partners in the apparel, appliances, consumer electronics, footwear, information technology, software, toys and video games industries, Retailer Comparison Reports help clients zero in on the market information their business decisions require - quickly and easily. A series of Solution Folders lets users select the time periods, product categories and other variables that matter most to their businesses.

Positive feedback from our Retailer Partners tells us the new Retailer Comparison Reports are meeting an important information need. One consumer electronics retailer said he was impressed with NPD's "due diligence" in design, testing and delivery of the new retailer-specific product. He went on to say he found the new site easy to use and liked the way he could compare his organization's performance to the competition. Other retailers have told us Retailer Comparison Reports are very useful in helping them access the information they need, and the reports' expanded categories and category attributes will increase their usage of NPD's market information.

Many new retail panel participants signed on throughout the year, including important specialty apparel, department store and independent technology retailers. With each addition to the panel, we broaden our coverage of the marketplace, increase the accuracy of our 'total market' projections and improve our integration of NPD's point-of-sale and consumer information. This means both our Retailer Partners and our manufacturer clients get better market information and a clearer view of the marketplace. You can count on continued expansion of our retail panel as we work strategically with key retailers to help them recognize the mutual value of NPD retailer partnerships.

We are hopeful not only that our existing Retailer Partners find 2003's improvements useful to their business decision-making, but also that the many Retail Business Development enhancements planned for 2004 will strengthen our existing partnerships and encourage new Retailer Partners to join our retail panel. As always, we welcome your feedback. Please contact Eva Ward at 516-625-2285 or eva_ward@npd.com if you'd like to share your thoughts or ask questions about NPD's market information products and services.
Paul Cantrell
Vice President, Retail Business Development