The tool will help brand owners and retailers test scenarios by designing physical retail environments in virtual reality while simultaneously forecasting the revenue impact of different design decisions.

It integrates two of Kantar Consulting’s services from its retail, sales and shopper practice: Retail Virtual Reality – its collaborative design environment; and RichMix – an assortment optimisation tool to integrate spend data from retailers and brand owners with measured and observed consumer behaviour. Algorithms then use machine learning to forecast the economic outcomes of changing the number of products and brands a consumer sees on the shelf. 

Jeremy Cohen, CEO of Kantar Consulting’s European retail, sales and shopper practice, said: “Brand owners and retailers are constantly searching for creative ideas that add value to consumer experiences and drive category growth and shopper loyalty. Perfect Category improves collaboration between retailers and brands by delivering creative category propositions which will entice shoppers and deliver the strongest sales results.”

Kantar Consulting was launched in January as a merger of Kantar Added Value, Kantar Futures, Kantar Vermeer and Kantar Retail.