history of soy yogurt, soy acidophilus milk and other ... - SoyInfo Center

(e.g. R.J. Reynolds). Vendor/child (e.g. Nabisco, subsidiary
of Reynolds). Brand (e.g. Morningstar Farms). Then UPC
(the lowest level on the hierarchy). If you are only interested
in one specifi c product, you can drill right down to UPC and
get trends on it. Any customer has potential access (if they
pay for it) to information on all products in the industry–so
they can do comparisons with key competitors. (2) Time
periods: 4, 5, 12, 12, 13 weeks, quarterly, and annual. Data
is typically available back 5 years. (3) Measures is all the
different ways you can look at the data. There are hundreds
of different measures but the basic fi ve are: Tracking
measures (e.g. dollar sales or volume sales), distribution
measures (e.g. ACV = All Commodity Volume, so an 80%
ACV distribution in a food store chain means that you have
good penetration in that chain), velocity measures (e.g.
sales per point of distribution, or sales million ACV; it tells
you the strength of your penetration), pricing measures
(e.g. average base price per unit on the retail shelf, or on
display), promotion based measures (e.g. what percentage
of the weekly volume is on display–like a temporary end
cap or free-standing display). (4) Geographics: For each of
basic store types (food, drug, mass, convenience stores, club
stores), the following geographic breaks/breakdowns are
available: Total USA, standard 8 geographic regions based
on the U.S. Census (e.g. northeast, south central, west coast,
etc.), 64 major markets (e.g. New York, Los Angeles), and
key accounts (e.g., Safeway, A&P).
Each client negotiates what information they need.
IRI has a contractual agreement to protect each customer’s
customized database and the way they look at data.
For its syndicated service, IRI has a category named
“meat substitutes” There are two types: Refrigerated (=
refrigerated and frozen) and shelf stable. Meat is also
included in the refrigerated type, so a client can compare
meat and meat substitutes. Another category is milk. One
type is kefi r/milk substitutes/soymilk.
How does IRI get its data? Every main chain in the
USA scans and accumulates its own raw data from its cash
registers. IRI has a relationship with each of these chains,
and it gathers all this scanned data from the corporate
headquarters. IRI often puts software and systems on site at
the headquarters which allows the chain to read and use its
own data. In some cases IRI has to pay for this data, while in
other cases it is a barter agreement.
How much does it cost to get information from IRI? One
report might cost $1,000. But to set up a custom database
might cost $50,000 on up to $1,000,000. Once a company
has their own database, they may be able to access it
electronically whenever they want to.
IRI’s product is named InfoScan, whether it is
syndicated or customized. IRI also has Infoscan Census
(based on every store in key accounts), Infoscan Panel. They
also offer testing services (to set up a test market), MRA
(marketing research analysis, with curves, pricing sensitivity,
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 403
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etc.) IRI also has a software division named IRI Software
that has separate revenue.
All of these services are sample-based services. They
use projection techniques to estimate the entire market.
SAMI (Selling Areas Marketing, Inc.), which was a
company, no longer exists. In about 1989 or 1990 it was
owned by Arbitron, and was in the process of going out of
business. Arbitron focused on rating advertising penetration
on radio and TV, and was a competitor of Nielsen (which did
TV ratings). IRI did not buy SAMI per se; rather it bought
60-80 of SAMI’s employee contracts (those these former
SAMI employees went to work for IRI) and SAMI’s client
fi les and contracts. SAMI was slow to get into scanned data;
IRI, which saw scanner data as the future, came on so fast
that SAMI could not recover. Nielsen has always focused on
audit data more than scanner data.
Retailers use their own scanner data extensively, as to
do category management, track trends and sales of individual
products.
Alan is now developing IRI’s page on the World Wide
Web. The URL is http://pages.prodigy.com/KY/ abdorsch/
abdorschinfores.html.
Update: 1997 April 24–”Over the course of the last two
years, Category Management has moved from concept to
buzzword to the point where it occupies a substantial part
of every modern marketer’s time and energy.” There is now
an “IRI University,” where a full-day course on Category
Management will be taught on June 18 in New York City.
Address: Assoc. Director of Client Services, Information
Resources, Inc., Chiquita Center, Suite 700, 240 East 50th
St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. Phone: 513-357-8025.
1065. Cunningham, Dusty. 1995. Recent developments at
Pacifi c ProSoya in Vancouver, Canada (Interview). SoyaScan
Notes. Aug. 23. Conducted by William Shurtleff of Soyfoods
Center.
• Summary: On Aug. 14 the company made its fi rst
successful batch of soymilk. They are presently selling only
bulk soymilk. Since a spray drying operation is located
nearby, they would like to offer spray-dried soymilk as well.
They are selling bulk soymilk to three different companies in
British Columbia which are each developing different nondairy
products: One is developing soy ice creams, the second
soy yogurts, and the third soy puddings.
She just had a visitor to the plant from a big distributing
company in France. He was comparing their soymilk
with French brands. Address: Vice-President Marketing,
Pacifi c ProSoya Foods Inc., 312-19262 60th Ave., Surrey
(Vancouver), BC V3S 8E5, Canada. Phone: 604-532-8030.
1066. Stevens, Jane Ade; Stevens, Roger. ed. and comp.
1995. U.S. soyfoods directory. Lebanon, Indiana: Indiana
Soybean Development Council. 31 p. 28 cm.
• Summary: This fi rst edition of the directory contains more