Today’s retail landscape is transforming rapidly. Convenience is becoming a mindset as much as a store format. At the same time, nearly 30% of Americans buy groceries online, and that number is expected to grow to 70% in less than 10 years, driven by e-commerce giants.

Consumers now have more options to research and buy products than ever before. And that means brand marketers and manufacturers need to work harder to grab consumer attention and share of the wallet. More than ever, they need to ensure that they offer innovative products, optimize placement and assortment, build targeted distribution, and engage in fast business decision making to open new retail channels like e-commerce and modern trade. To achieve success, they need to optimize their retail strategy based on data that reflect all market dynamics including a total sales view and identification of growth opportunities.

To get the right data, brand marketers and manufacturers need to balance data completeness, quality, and cost. At Nielsen, we strive to build this optimal balance into our methodology. We’ve transformed data measurement into a science and aim to provide a whole universe that truly reflects the market.

To help our clients better understand how Nielsen estimates data to provide the best market read possible, we recently launched the Ultimate Guide to Nielsen Retail Measurement Services (RMS). Our clients can use our latest technology-rich, learning materials to power real-time decision-making and meet opportunity where it waits—right here, right now. This new program consists of videos, job aids, and interactive activities to connect theory with application.   

The guide is divided into sections based on several relevant topics within the retail space today:

• Coverage: Understand our methodology, its influences, and the various market dynamics that come into play.
• Non-participating retailers: Learn how we calculate sales estimates on non-participating retailers—those whose point of sales data isn’t included either on a temporary or permanent basis—to get the whole picture.
• Data quality: Take a look at how we uncover data with a step-by-step guide that takes you behind the scenes.
• Distribution: Determine sales potential based on product availability, and build the right distribution strategies that make market traction.  
• Pricing: Learn how to analyze pricing to evaluate share growth based on sales performance.
• Shares, sales, and growth: Improve business performance with thorough analysis.

When our clients have control over their own development path, they’re able to get the right answers whenever and wherever they want, ensuring they have the confidence to know what’s next and get there first.

We will continue to build upon this new training website and feature additional topics in the future. For more information about how Nielsen captures and analyzes the data that underpins our best-in-class global measurement, visit Nielsen’s Retail Measurement Overview and Nielsen Around the World.