BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Market Force Information, the world’s leading customer intelligence solutions company, is expanding into the European market with the acquisition of UK-based Retail Eyes, Europe’s premier customer experience and mystery shopping provider. The acquisition is Market Force’s fifth on the road to pioneering the customer intelligence market for business-to-consumer (B2C) companies. Like Market Force, Retail Eyes offers a range of customer intelligence solutions – from mystery shopping, to customer satisfaction surveys, to in-store auditing – all on an integrated analytics platform.
Together with expanding its market breadth, the acquisition enables Market Force to establish a European Center of Excellence and add more than 100 world-class clients to its portfolio. It also doubles the company’s independent contractor force from 300,000 to more than 600,000 mystery shoppers and retail auditors across the Americas and the European continent. With this latest acquisition of Retail Eyes, a $13 million company, and its own year over year growth, Market Force expects to finish 2011 at a $70 million revenue run-rate.
“We help many of the world’s leading brands to do what matters most to them – delight their customers across every store to drive growth and profitability,” said Karl Maier, Market Force’s CEO. “As the world becomes increasingly global, our customers need to drive consistent performance across every store, whether in New York, London, Toronto or Berlin. There is no question that Retail Eyes has the most sophisticated customer intelligence business in the UK, with a rapidly growing European practice. This acquisition will enable us to serve our multi-national clients, as well as extend our services to new markets that have huge potential for growth.”
Retail Eyes, based outside of London, will serve as Market Force’s European headquarters as it provides customer intelligence solutions and market expertise for clients throughout the UK and Europe. Retail Eyes has an independent contractor network of more than 300,000 consumers across Europe who provide feedback as mystery shoppers to help brands such as Pret A Manger, Subway and Swarovski maintain the highest levels of customer service across their stores.
As the leader in customer intelligence solutions for B2C companies in North America, Market Force has spent the last several years developing proprietary technology and patent-pending analytics models that combine, analyze and present multiple customer-related data streams in a platform that makes it easy for executives to understand what has the biggest impact on customer satisfaction and bottom-line performance.
According to Sahir Anand, vice president and principal analyst with Aberdeen Group, Customer Intelligence is a new generation of customer experience management. “By pulling together multiple threads of consumer data – from mystery shopping, to customer satisfaction measurement, to 800-call center data, to social media – and coupling them with store financial metrics, retailers can understand the gaps associated with end-to-end customer experience before, during and after the sale. This approach is critical to improving customer conversion, margin and revenue.”
Anand adds, “As the second acquisition in this year alone, this acquisition indicates that Market Force is serious about leading in this new space and growing internationally. We will be watching their performance with great interest over the coming months.”
“The market for customer intelligence solutions is just beginning to explode in the UK and Europe, and we want to be at the forefront,” said Tim Ogle, CEO of Retail Eyes. “We already have some of the most highly valued brands in the UK as clients. They appreciate how getting the customer experience right with every visit drives their success. The scale, product repertoire and Ph.D. analytics that Market Force offers, in combination with our UK and European expertise, makes us a formidable force together in a blossoming international market.”
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
About Market Force Information
Market Force Information, Inc. is the leading global customer intelligence solutions company for multi-location businesses including major retailers, restaurants, grocery and convenience stores, financial institutions, entertainment studios and consumer packaged goods companies. With more than 120 years of combined industry experience, Market Force Information has pioneered the industry with a suite of customer intelligence solutions – from 300,000 field associates, to real customer surveys, to proprietary decision support tools – that provides a holistic view of the customer’s on-site experience and identifies the actions required at the store level to increase customer loyalty and improve financial performance. For more information, please visit: www.marketforce.com and follow us on Twitter @MarketForce.
About Retail Eyes
Launched in the UK in 2003, Retail Eyes is the leading provider of customer experience improvement programs in the UK and Europe. Combining its best in class mystery shopping, customer satisfaction surveys, retail audit and in-store point of sale (PoS) compliance methodologies, Retail Eyes works with over 100 of the UK and Europe’s leading retailers, restaurants and hospitality providers. Its clients include Age UK, Compass Group, Domino’s Pizza, Dreams, Gala Coral, Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG), JD Wetherspoon, Ladbrokes, Lloyds Pharmacy, Nandos, QHotels, Sony, Subway, Waterstone’s and Zara.
Recognized repeatedly for its remarkable growth, Retail Eyes combines cutting-edge technology with an innovative approach to customer experience in eight languages to clients across a variety of sectors. Learn more at www.retaileyes.co.uk.