Chicago, ILIRI, in collaboration with The International Dairy Deli Bakery Association (IDDBA), has launchedIRI Integrated Fresh, a technology that tracks sales of random-weight as well as traditional UPC items to give retailers and manufactures the ability to measure all items in the store regardless of code type.

The technology will help CPG manufacturers and retailers better understand consumer and shopper behavior, so they can drive growth across the entire store, says Jeanne Livelsberger, EVP of Market and Shopper Insights for IRI, in a press release.

“Our new Integrated Fresh solution uncovers what consumers are seeing when they step into the store,” said Livelsberger. “It is the most reflective view of the size and trend of the average grocery store department, which has historically been a challenge across code types and packaging methods. Ultimately, we are providing access to the most granular insights surrounding the who, what and where of fresh foods, and a singular integrated view of the entire food and beverages business with more attributes than ever before."

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This new product solves a significant issue in the industry, said Jeremy Johnson, VP of Education, IDDBA. He adds, “Before Integrated Fresh, definitively measuring the total size of the deli or bakery departments was difficult and varied greatly depending on data source and retailer. Integrating fixed- and random-weight items together properly was also a challenge."

Looking back on the last 26 weeks, Integrated Fresh has helped workers to see the impact of retail sales per category. Here's an example provided by IRI: For the 26 weeks ending Dec. 4, 2020, a retailer's meat department added $7 billion more in sales compared to the same period in 2019. Additionally, the frozen department captured $6.5 billion in sales based on the new Integrated Fresh view.

Integrated Fresh is available for point-of-sale data across IRI solutions, and the data definition will also be available in IRI’s multiple consumer and shopper assets. The data is updated weekly. For more information about the Integrated Fresh solution, retailers can contact IRI’sJonna Parker.