IRI sells Apollo retail space planning business to Aldata

18 Dec '08

4 min read

Aldata Solution Oyj (Aldata), the leading provider of software solutions to the retail and wholesale industries, and Information Resources Inc. (IRI), the leading global provider of consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and insights for the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail and healthcare industries, announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Aldata will acquire all of the assets of IRI's Apollo Retail Space and Assortment Planning business unit. The offer is valued at approximately $10.5 million.

Apollo Space Planning software is used by more than 300 retail and CPG companies with over 8,000 individual users worldwide and contains over 20 years of accumulated retail planning and optimization domain knowledge. It dramatically improves the retail space planning process utilizing advanced merchandizing rules, category assortments, performance criteria, and space constraints. Recent major investments in ease-of-use, speed of deployment and web publishing further confirm Apollo's global leadership position.

In today's challenging economic climate, customers are looking to reduce costs, while ensuring customer satisfaction. The combination of supply chain optimization offered by Aldata with space planning automation offered by Apollo ensures that true customer-centric planning can be executed at the optimal granular level. Forecasted demand levels based on local requirements can now be seamlessly integrated into the assortment and space planning process, and then automated planograms produced to ensure high levels of compliance and ROI.

“The addition of the Apollo business is a natural fit for Aldata” said Bertrand Sciard, President and CEO of Aldata, “Firstly, the combination of products provides best-of-breed integrated planning, optimization, delivery, and replenishment of retail merchandizing operations. Secondly, Apollo's substantial U.S. customer base fits Aldata's stated strategy to build a larger presence in the U.S. market. And thirdly, both companies have shared heritage, experience, and customers in the high-volume food, grocery and CPG market sectors

Mike Duffey, CFO of IRI, stated, “The agreement to divest our Apollo software division is part of IRI's overall strategic plan to further increase focus and investment in our core businesses that are vital to our CPG and retail clients including comprehensive marketing information, consumer and shopper insights, predictive analytics automation, price and promotion optimization, shopper loyalty and consulting services.

Aldata has a rich history of developing and delivering high-quality software solutions for the retail and wholesale sectors, making them a natural candidate for the acquisition of Apollo. Their commitment to further expanding the Apollo portfolio of capabilities will provide enhanced value to Apollo users, enabling the next generation of space planning and optimization.”

The transaction is anticipated to close on or before December 17th 2008. Employee transfers will occur once all local employment law and EC jurisdiction requirements have been properly met.

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