Location intelligence and audience buying platform PlaceIQ last week announced a partnership with CPG purchase data and tracking company IRI. The deal allows in-store sales data to be used for digital ad targeting on the front end and equally for attribution on the back end.
IRI describes itself as having “the largest repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all integrated on an on-demand cloud-based technology platform.” It’s effectively one of three companies that have this data; the others are Kantar and Nielsen Catalina.
The deal will enable “brands and agencies [to] better target their audiences based on consumers’ propensity to buy products, which can optimize marketing programs.” As indicated, Nielsen Catalina and 4Info offer a similar though not identical service. And Kantar and 4Info offer mobile targeting and SKU-level in-store tracking capability.
The PlaceIQ-IRI partnership will benefit brands and manufacturers by giving them visibility into how campaigns and channels are translating into store visits and purchases. Consumer purchase history data can be combined with other audience segmentation data that PlaceIQ compiles for refined targeting (and media planning/buying) capabilities.
PlaceIQ maintains that it has the largest, most nuanced and robust audience database built with location data. Foursquare, Factual, xAd, NinthDecimal, Verve, YP, Moasis, Google, Facebook, UberMedia, Thinknear, Placed and others are also using location for audience segmentation and targeting, as well as attribution.
PlaceIQ previously introduced a measurement it calls “place visit rate” or “PVR.” Some of the others above offer similar metrics. The difference between tracking store visits and what this deal announces is that the data being used for targeting and eventual attribution are in-store sales data.
In a broader context, this announcement adds further momentum to the use of location for offline attribution. Earlier I discussed what may become a new metric for marketers, “Location ROI” or “LROI.” I will be moderating an online-to-offline attribution discussion that will showcase some of these techniques at SMX West in March.
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