IRI acquires sister company The Hendry Corporation

The move follows a deal last week between IRI and rival Nielsen to source consumer purchase data from a shared pool of US households, thereby freeing resources to be reinvested in “consumer insight innovation and client-facing improvements in speed, flexibility, quality and analytical capability”.

IRI is acquiring Hendry from Symphony Marketing Solutions, a portfolio company of Symphony Technology Group, which also owns IRI.

Bob Tomei, IRI’s consumer and shopper insights president, said: “Linking Hendry’s market structure with our rich consumer and shopper insights assets, as well as other predictive marketing analytics capabilities, creates an entirely new class of competitively-advantaged insights our clients can take advantage of.”

The acquisition is intended to position IRI as “the de facto planning platform” used by consumer goods manufacturers for their strategic and annual planning cycles.

Symphony Marketing Solutions general manager Lorraine Scarpa will serve as acting general manager for Hendry following its move to IRI.