Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the launch of its Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Market Focus, in-depth research and analysis on how the Internet and emerging technologies are reshaping the business practices of the CPG industry. Specifically tailored for CPG manufacturers, grocery retailers, and service providers, the CPG Market Focus includes extensive industry data collected from Forrester’s primary research, as well as consumer purchase data obtained through an exclusive partnership with Information Resources, Inc. (IRI).

“Based on the success of our Netquity™ research last year, which was conducted in partnership with IRI, we realized there is a tremendous opportunity to make our CPG research more comprehensive,” said Chris Charron, group director at Forrester. “No other source can offer this unique combination of hard-hitting strategic analysis, technology understanding, and industry-specific data.”

Forrester’s CPG Market Focus delves into areas like online advertising and promotion, data sharing and distribution practices between manufacturers and retailers, Net-driven product development, and strategies for integrating offline and online selling.

“The CPG industry is ripe for change,” added Robert Rubin, director at Forrester. “In a time when brand loyalty is hardly a given, interactive technologies are changing the way CPG companies can and should reach consumers. We’ve witnessed the rise and fall of many online grocery retailers, the formation of public CPG trading exchanges, and futile attempts at targeting online consumers using outdated brand management tactics. Forrester can help industry players create a seamless on- and offline presence and develop winning B2B and B2C strategies that save time and money, while building a larger customer base in the long run.”

Available now, Forrester’s new Consumer Packaged Goods Report, “Retailers Reshape CPG Trade,” examines both the power of Internet technology to transform sales, logistics, and data-sharing practices between CPG manufacturers and retailers and the role that large retailers will play in the process.

Other research topics in the CPG Market Focus include:

Manage customers, not brands. Today’s brand-centric, mass-media approach to consumer packaged goods marketing is inefficient. By focusing on household — not brand — profitability, managing cohorts of customers creates more value for CPG companies. The new structure aligns brands into groups based on a common audience. The upshot is that category managers will become relics, ad agency relationships will be consolidated, and cents-off deals will dwindle.

Promoting groceries online. Consumers are conditioned to coupons and store specials, which boost sales but depress profit margins. On the Internet, marketers have the ability to target smaller segments of consumers with more efficient, customized offers. What online promotions work best? How should CPG companies use them? And how will these new approaches impact offline promotion spending?

The CPG channel shift. The demise of some online grocers has cast doubt on the viability of online grocery sales. Are consumers buying groceries online? How much and how fast? How will these sales cannibalize offline sales? Forrester uncovers the actual threat of the online market, as well as what the online space has taught us about grocery-buying behavior.

In addition to providing action-oriented industry research, Forrester will host its second CPG Summit, “New Technologies For Old Brands,” featuring the following CPG experts: Vincent Bowey, vice president, Solutions Marketing, E.piphany; Jim Fenzel, vice president, Retail Operations, Promotions, Packaging, and Equipment, IGA, Inc.; Norman Lehoullier, managing director, Grey Interactive; Robert T. Quish, president, Lowe Lintas & Partners North America; and Paula A. Sneed, group vice president, Kraft Foods, and president, eCommerce and Marketing Services Division, Kraft. Forrester’s Jim Nail, senior analyst, and Robert Rubin, director, will also participate.

Held October 17-18, 2001, at the Chicago Marriott Downtown, the Summit is intended for CPG marketers, brand managers, e-tailers, retailers, and senior Internet executives responsible for marketing and selling consumer packaged goods both on- and offline. The Event will explore what technologies will reshape the CPG industry, how these changes will affect the industry’s balance of power, and how technology will enable CPG manufacturers and retailers to reach new consumers and enhance profitability. For more information, visit www.forrester.com/Events.

The CPG Market Focus draws on three kinds of data: 1) consumer surveys; 2) category- and brand-level consumer purchase data; and 3) Forrester primary research, which includes surveys and interviews with industry leaders. Through a partnership with Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Forrester conducts two biannual surveys of IRI’s Shoppers’ Hotline Panel to assess how technology is changing their grocery buying habits, and then it maps these responses to actual buying behavior.