AboutChris Hawkes Expertise I can help people to understand whether or not market research might help them address the
business decisions that they are facing. I can also help them consider the different types of
research that might be appropriate in their situation, and can help them estimate the costs of
the different methdologies, and the pros and cons of each approach.
Experience I've worked in a Fortune 500 company, as a market researcher for the last 8 years. I've managed dozens of qualitative and quantitative market research. I've conducted extensive market research in the US, and in over 20 other countries around the world as well.
Organizations American Marketing Association
Publications MarketResearch101.com and EzineArticles.
Education/Credentials I have a degree in Finance, which I realy haven't ever used, except to try to understand how my mortgage payments were calculated.
Question I'm planning on manufacturing a product to sale in retail market. Is there a way to obtain I.R.I. data without spending hundreds of dollars to data resource companies?
Thank you,
Troy
Answer Hello Troy,
By IRI, I'm assuming that you mean the scanner data that is consolidated. I don't know anyway to get the IRI data directly, but I'll bet that you could approximate some sales data for the category that you're interested in. I would start by Googling the market share leader in the category that you're entering (or that makes a reaasonable substitute for your product). Occassionally companies will report on units shipments for a certain product in a given timeline, usually as a way of explaining a financial condition. Also look through the Wall Street Journal by brand and by category of product becasuse they'll often cite consumption in stories about changing customer preferences, or again explaining a companies financial position. If those don't work, you might try to find the trade association that covers that product category and search around their web site, or even send them a message asking for some information (they may want to help you, hoping that you'll see the value in their association). One last idea is if there is a company that ONLY sells that one product category that you're interested in, you could find their tax information and back into their likely sales volume and multiply that by their market share.
After that, I'd probably call the IRI guys themselves and just ask some questions about how they can parse the data in your product category. They're (or they were based in San Fran) and they're really nice people there - they may do you a favor as a new, potential customer.
Does that help at all Troy? If not, give me some details and I'll try to sniff around a little bit on your behalf.
