IRI, Coresight Launch Pandemic Retail Research
As retail struggles to regain its footing during the COVID-19 pandemic and its eventual aftermath, data about consumer habits and other trends promise to take on even more important roles in the coming months. And now IRI and Coresight Research have joined to launch a new monthly retail trend report that, according to the two companies, will offer critical insights into the future of retail for retailers and suppliers.
According to the two research organizations, the reports “will leverage the organizations’ combined expertise and unparalleled data assets from across the retail landscape — including purchase data spanning brick-and-mortar and e-commerce retail channels for apparel, CPG and grocery chains."
The first report is scheduled to be released in June and will focus on U.S. consumer packaged goods, grocery and e-commerce trends, and provide insights and analysis about growth categories and channel comparisons. All those trends were certainly in play before the pandemic — food retailers, for instance, were starting to make significant strides with online and mobile channels — and have since taken on new importance in this era of store closings and stay-at-home mandates.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on retail industry operations and consumer shopping behavior across all major markets,” said Andrew Appel, president and CEO of IRI. “Now more than ever, retailers and their suppliers need access to up-to-date, accurate data and industry-wide expert analysis in order to adapt their services for today’s shoppers. We are pleased to partner with Coresight in offering valuable insights that can help companies innovate their business for the future.”
The pandemic has sparked other fresh research into retail and consumers habits. Recently, Deloitte found that consumers are feeling more confident about the safety of returning to physical stores, even if income worries and job losses seem likely to severely reduce purchases for the immediate future.
