ACNielsen: New Tool For Simplified Space Management

ACNielsen U.S. began previewing its new Spaceman Product Planner, a tool that helps clients expedite the process of determining what items to carry in a particular product category and then uses the results to update corresponding planograms. ACNielsen previewed Spaceman Product Planner at the Food Marketing Institute's Marketechnics conference here, and expects to launch the new product in April 2002.

Used in conjunction with Spaceman Application Builder, ACNielsen's customizable merchandising application that utilizes industry-standard Microsoft Visual Basic, the new tool enables users to electronically pull in multiple data sources for assortment analysis. For example, a store's current planogram can be viewed within the context of the retailer's point-of-sale data for the category and the category's performance throughout the market. As decisions are made about assortment changes-adding products that are selling well in the market but are not carried by the retailer, for example-on-screen "wizards" take users through an automated routine for changing the assortment and updating the planogram.

Gene Ponti, ACNielsen Merchandising Services product manager, said, "Spaceman Product Planner was designed to be both extremely user-friendly and a real time-saver. Clients do not need to be database administrators. They just follow the simple on-screen directions."

ACNielsen, a VNU company, is the world's leading marketing information company. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the company provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.