GfK acquires stakes in Asian custom research firms
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GfK has expanded its custom research interests in two key Asia markets with the acquisition of majority stakes in Consumer Research China (CRC) and India's Mode Group.
Subject to authority approval, GfK will acquire a 66% stake in CRC and plans to increase this in stages to 100% by 2014.
In future, the firm – which offers information and consultancy services for MR and new product development – will operate under the name GfK Custom Research Beijing.
GfK said the company will achieve sales totaling around €2m in 2006.
Company co-founder Chris Zhang will remain in charge of the agency, operating as general manager.
He said: “Being part of the GfK network is a big deal. In particular, we will benefit from the sophisticated tools which GfK has developed for custom research.”
The firm has 90 employees working in its three branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Major global clients include Volkswagen, Mitsubishi and Dupont.
Meanwhile, GfK has acquired a 51% stake in India's Mode Group, again subject to approval from the country's authorities. It also plans to increase its holding by 2010.
In addition, the MR firm – which provides custom research and consultancy services including product and price testing, customer satisfaction surveys and brand tracking – will be renamed GfK Mode.
Mode has branches in 13 Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore and Chennai. It also has offices in Dhaka Bangladesh via a subsidiary company.
The MR firm has 127 employees and is expected to achieve results totaling €2.7m for 2006, said GfK.
Major clients include Colgate Palmolive, McDonald`s, Hewlett Packard, Nestlé, Suzuki, GSK, Sanofi-Aventis, Unicef, the BBC and DFID (UK).
In addition, Mode is carrying out projects with the United States Agency for International Development and the World Bank.
