BzzAgent will operate as a standalone business within Dunnhumby, with founder and CEO Dave Balter remaining at the helm, as well as taking a seat on the Dunnhumby executive team.

Dunnhumby is best known for its work with Tesco (which now owns the company), analysing data from the supermarket chain’s Clubcard loyalty scheme. The firms said that the combination of Dunnhumby’s shopper data with BzzAgent’s WOM marketing techniques would be used to improve customer insights and product sales for consumer goods companies and retailers.

Dave Balter said: “Dunnhumby has built a stellar reputation in the retail and CPG space by focusing on customer attitudes and behaviours. BzzAgent shares that focus and we are excited to leverage Dunnhumby’s unmatched targeting and analytic capabilities to provide our programs with greater scale and proof of impact. Together we think we have a huge opportunity to connect the dots between shopper marketing and social media.”

Dunnhumby CEO Simon Hay added: “The customer today is as influential as the marketing gurus were a decade ago. Customers’ choices are influenced in many places and social media and word-of-mouth are playing a key role for brands and retailers. Not only does BzzAgent leverage a base of 800,000 influential customers in the word-of-mouth space, it is focused on measuring return on investment and the role of social media. Our focus has always been on building loyalty. With BzzAgent, we believe we can now help our clients understand advocacy and use this knowledge to earn more loyal customers for retailers and brands.”

All of BzzAgent’s 50 staff will be kept once the deal is complete, the company said.