Customer intelligence solutions company, Market Force Information, has completed its second acquisition this year, Retail Eyes, a customer experience and mystery shopping provider.
Clearly, Market Force Information is serious about growing internationally and leading in this new space. Retail Eyes is the fifth acquisition made by Market force, as it continues to pioneer the customer intelligence market for business-to-consumer (B2C) companies.
Market Force has developed proprietary technology and patent-pending analytics models that combine, analyze and present multiple customer-related data streams in a platform that makes it easy for executives to understand what has the biggest impact on customer satisfaction and bottom-line performance.
Market Force and Retail Eyes both offer a range of customer intelligence solutions, including mystery shopping, customer satisfaction surveys, and in-store auditing, based on an integrated analytics platform.
Retail Eyes was an attractive acquisition because it allowed Market Force Information to expand its market breadth, establish a European Center of Excellence and add more than 100 world-class clients to its portfolio. Retail Eyes has an independent contractor force of 300,000, almost as many as Market Force already had, taking them to more than 600,000 mystery shoppers and retail auditors across the Americas and Europe. Retail Eyes is a $13 million company, adding to Market Force’s own revenue, to take them to $70 million for 2011.
“We help many of the world’s leading brands to do what matters most to them – delight their customers across every store to drive growth and profitability. As the world becomes increasingly global, our customers need to drive consistent performance across every store, whether in New York, London, Toronto or Berlin. There is no question that Retail Eyes has the most sophisticated customer intelligence business in the UK, with a rapidly growing European practice. This acquisition will enable us to serve our multi-national clients, as well as extend our services to new markets that have huge potential for growth.” – Karl Maier, Market Force CEO
Retail Eyes is based outside of London, and gives Market Force a much easier entry to Europe than a straight expansion there, to compete with Retail Eyes and other European companies in the space. Retail Eyes’ customer brands include Pret A Manger, Subway and Swarovski, which maintain the highest levels of customer service across their stores. They also have an impressive client list including Age UK, Compass Group, Domino’s Pizza, Dreams, Gala Coral, Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG), JD Wetherspoon, Ladbrokes, Lloyds Pharmacy, Nandos, QHotels, Sony, Waterstone’s and Zara.
Retail Eyes’ CEO, Tim Ogle, says the market for customer intelligence solutions is just beginning to explode in the UK and Europe, and Market Force’s product repertoire and Ph.D. analytics will make them into “a formidable force together in a blossoming international market.”
