PORT WASHINGTON, NY, June 27, 2007 – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and The NPD Group, a leading provider of consumer and retailer information, announced today an agreement whereby NPD will provide Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club with consumer tracking data. Under the agreement, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club will have access to NPD information on consumer purchasing across a broad spectrum of industries including automotive aftermarket, consumer technology, entertainment (music, film & video, games), fashion (apparel and footwear), foodservice, home (home textiles, small appliances, home improvement, lawn and garden), toys, and wireless handsets; they will also receive NPD’s consumption information on food and beverages. For the above listed categories, NPD will be the preferred provider of consumer panel data that Wal-Mart will use to manage its businesses.
The agreement will provide Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club with a wealth of information collected from NPD’s panel of over 3.5 million consumers who report what they purchased, where, for what price, and more. NPD will produce reports customized for Wal-Mart, enabling the retailer and select vendors to view information for Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club consumer segments, category hierarchies, and custom trading areas.
“NPD information will give Wal-Mart an extensive cross-category view of what’s happening across all segments of the marketplace and all consumer demographics,” said Robert Atencio, VP Insights and Customer Strategy at Wal-Mart. “This is the kind of intelligence we need to continue to successfully grow our business by understanding what today’s consumer is looking for and tailoring our business to deliver it.”
“NPD consumer data is truly a window into the marketplace,” said Bill Lucas, Group President for NPD’s Retail Business Group. “We are excited to be able to provide Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and their vendors with what we feel is unparalleled information for identifying market trends and opportunities and working collaboratively to facilitate better business decisions.”
NPD consumer information available to Wal-Mart will include core market measures such as market share, price points, consumer demographics, channel trends, and more. Wal-Mart will also be tapping NPD’s custom research options to address other, specific information needs.
“Wal-Mart has always placed a high value on using information for fact-based decision making,” said Stephen Quinn, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer of Wal-Mart. “We look forward to building on our track record here by working with NPD, leveraging the new tool with our vendors, and continuing to meet customer needs to grow our business.”
About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam’s Club locations in the United States. The company also operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The company’s securities are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Arca, formerly the Pacific stock exchange, under the symbol WMT. More information about Wal-Mart can be found by visiting www.walmartfacts.com. Online merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com.
About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,600 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, visit www.npd.com.