Wal-Mart will not participate in the expected launch next year of the PRISM national retail data syndication service from The Nielsen Company, despite having taken part in the pilot development phase of the in-store project, it was revealed.
PRISM, the acronym for “Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric”, is a retail media measurement service being developed by Nielsen and a consortium of retailers and packaged goods marketers. The metric s examine point-of-purchase reach by department and link sales display impressions to sales conversions in an effort to help retailers and manufacturers make better merchandising decisions.
The service, which has been in development since 2006, began in April 2007 to amass in in-store data from 30 product makers and 16 retailers, including shopper traffic, P-O-P, merchandising programs, retail TV networks, shelf- and cart-talkers and digital signs. The intent is to arrive at a measurement system that will permit a side-by-side comparison to other media advertising.
A statement from the Nielsen Company’s In-Store division said that while 15 of the retailer members have said they will take part when the data service rolls out in 2009, retail giant Wal-Mart has decided to opt out of the national platform at launch.
“Wal-Mart was pleased with the insights they gleaned from the PRISM pilot,” Nielsen said in a statement. “However, they have decided not to participate in a national syndicated service, remaining consistent with their internal data-sharing policies.”
The company added that Wal-Mart’s decision was not a reflection on the quality of the shopper data produced in PRISM’s pilot phase.
“Wal-Mart acknowledges the industry value of the national [PRISM] service and the quality of the service provided to those participating,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen added that Wal-Mart’s decision not to subscribe to the service will not affect the launch of the in-store data service.
Product manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble, Unilver and Kraft Foods have agreed to take part in the data service. The company statement included support for the PRISM pilot and the coming data service from Wal-mart’s fellow member participants P&G and Sears Holding Company.
“We remain optimistic about the Nielsen In-Store measurement service and continue to support the vision of a common industry metric to measure consumer reach in-store,” P&G associate marketing director Ann Mooney was quoted as saying.
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