GfK
Encyclopedia
The GfK Group, established in 1934 as Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (Society for Consumer Research) is Germany
's largest market research
institute, and the fourth largest market research organisation in the world, after Nielsen Company, Kantar Group
, and IMS Health
. It was founded by an association of university teachers, among them Ludwig Erhard
, later Minister for Economics and Chancellor
of Germany.
In April 2005 it acquired NOP World
, based mostly in the United Kingdom
, the United States
and Italy
, which was rated the ninth largest market research business in the world, a move described by the company as "the most important decision made by GfK since going public in 1999."
and traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
. It is included in the SDAX
index. The Group has a staff complement of 10,000+ employees and their market research services cover more than 100 countries across the world. The company signs off using the slogan "Growth from Knowledge".
and sales as well as marketing and advertising.
GfK Custom Research: The Custom Research sector is specialized in operational and strategic marketing issues relating to virtually every industrial sector and market. The sources of information for the Custom Research sector are specific target groups of consumers and the medical profession.
GfK Retail and Technology: Retailer POS data is the source for the Retail and Technology sector. The sector supplies clients with information and consulting services based on retail data from continuous surveys and analyses of sales of technical consumer goods and services in the retail sector in more than 80 countries worldwide. With the global production and reporting system StarTrack, processing and delivery follows universal standards; clients can easily access the resulting market information online. GfK Retail and Technology has also developed a comprehensive index to track technical consumer goods markets in more than 30 countries worldwide called GfK TEMAX (Technical Market Index).
Media: The Media Sector delivers information services on range, intensity and nature of media usage and acceptance in more than 20 countries in Europe and the USA. The data source for the Media sector stems from the media (point of media). The services are directed at clients from media companies, agencies and the branded goods industry. The range of available services includes continuous, as well as special one-off studies and analyses. The data sources for the Media sector come from TV, radio, print, outdoor advertising and online.
GfK is Germany’s oldest market research company, established 77 years ago at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In 1936, GfK SE conducted the country’s first brand
study, on the cross
logo
of pharmaceutical company Bayer
, and a year later it published the first German purchasing power
figures, which are now also produced for the rest of Europe and overseas. In the mid-1950s, GfK joined the European frontrunners when it adopted consumer panel research
after the research methodology first developed in the United States. It also began expanding its international network at an early stage, and in 1960 GfK SE co-founded the Europanel, which, together with British
partner Taylor Nelson Sofres
(TNS
), conducts continuous studies of consumer purchasing patterns in 26 European countries. The GfK consumer climate study, launched in Germany during 1983, now covers Britain, Denmark
, Austria
, Sweden
, and a series of central and eastern European countries. In 1985, GfK began producing German television ratings, first for state-owned broadcasters and later for the Television Research Partnership (AGF
). During September 2005 GfK SE was a sponsor for the “Du bist Deutschland” (You are Germany
) advertising campaign, the country's largest multimedia initiative to date, aimed at enhancing Germany’s image. Today, GfK SE is widely acknowledged as Germany’s undisputed market leader, with a market share of well over 25 percent. Germany continues to account for the largest share of GfK’s annual sales.
and southern Europe
during 1960 by establishing a subsidiary
in Austria
. In the late 1970s, GfK set up further companies in the Netherlands
, France
and Switzerland
. GfK SE is currently the leading market research company in Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands, the second largest in Belgium
and Italy
(since 2002), and the third or fourth largest in France, Greece
, and Portugal
. GfK’s Retail and Technology and Media divisions are the regional market leaders, with continuous television and radio audience research contracts in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The electronic measuring technology used in this type of media
research was developed by GfK subsidiary Telecontrol, while GfK Eurisko has also created a similar audience measurement
tool for measuring radio audiences electronically.
and Eastern Europe
. The Group opened its first office in the region before the fall of the iron curtain
in 1989, in the form of GfK Hungária. This was only the second foreign-owned company of any kind to be established in Hungary
, and was followed in rapid succession by GfK Polonia in Warsaw
, GfK Praha in the Czech Republic
and GfK Rus in Russia
. The region now comprises twenty companies in sixteen countries. As of 2006, GfK is the largest market research company in Romania
, Slovakia
, Slovenia
and Ukraine
; the second largest in Bulgaria
, Croatia
, Russia
, the Czech Republic and Turkey
; and ranks third or fourth in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Poland
, Serbia
and Hungary. In 2005, the newly established GfK Kazakhistan launched its Custom Research and Consumer Tracking operations. That same year Russia’s consumer protection association granted an award to GfK Rus for its outstanding contribution to the creation of a modern consumer market. During January 2005, GfK Belgrade received the Coca-Cola
Company’s Strategic Consumer Insights award for excellence in marketing consultancy. Of GfK's total sales for 2005, roughly 5.6 percent came from this region.
In 2007, GfK Group acquired a 51% majority shareholding in Macedonia’s biggest market research agency, Stratum Research, now trading as GfK Skopje in Macedonia.
for 20 years, starting in Japan
, where it acquired its first minority interest
in 1985. It now has subsidiaries in nearly all of the region’s key economies, including Australia
and New Zealand
. In 2005, GfK had subsidiaries in 15 countries and although GfK was only active in the Retail and Technology division until 2005, it was already the region’s fifth largest market research company. In 2005, GfK launched its Healthcare business in Asia in the form of subsidiaries in Singapore
, Hong Kong
(acquired SoHealthAsia in August 2005) and Thailand
, as well as the former NOP World company, GfK Healthcare, in China
, and GfK Retail and Technology in the Philippines
. GfK Marketing Services China held its first client conference in Shanghai, on the theme of convergence and digitalization. This was attended by some 250 representatives of over fifty Chinese and international retailers and manufacturers. In November 2007 GfK Group acquired the optics panel from The Nielsen Company in Japan. The acquisition allows GfK a very strong measurement representation to the world market for Optics industry. In 2008, GfK Asia will track the broader Asian Optics industry which includes contact lens, ophthalmic lens, spectacles frames and sunglasses to give the industry a comprehensive view of this expanding market segment.
in September 1999. In the same year, GfK Custom Research became the Group’s first U.S. research company. This was followed in 2003 by V2 GfK and a year later by GfK Arbor. However, the most important step in GfK’s U.S. business development strategy was the acquisition of NOP World in April 2005, including the Roper Poll brand. This meant that all of the company's divisions except Consumer Tracking now have a presence in the United States and GfK SE has rapidly advanced to be the No. 8 company in the sector. U.S. revenue in 2005 was $316.3 million, up 3.9% from 2004. In 2005, 72.8 percent of total worldwide revenue was from outside the U.S. Roughly 22.1 percent of total sales came from the U.S., and roughly 25.3 percent of the company's income for the year. In January 2009, GfK Audits & Surveys acquired The Nielsen Company's contact lens panel and expanded tracking to include Optics in America.
Headquartered in New York, GfK Custom Research North America (www.gfkamerica.com http://www.gfkamerica.com) is a full-service market research and consulting firm providing access to several of the world's largest consumer databases as well as a full-range of ad-hoc research services. Its sector specific teams cover the consumer packaged goods, financial services, automotive, B2B, technology and media and communications industries. Additionally, the firm's methodological expertise covers brand health monitoring, brand tracking, concept testing, volume forecasting, customer satifsaction and loyalty measurement, mystery shopping
, qualitative and ethonographic research, global and US consumer trends consulting (leveraging the GfK Roper Reports databases), omnibus services, in-mall research delivered through Friedman Marketing Services, online research, public affairs and public opinion polling (including the AP-GfK Poll http://www.AP-gfkpoll.com), and strategic innovation and new product development consulting.
Additionally, GfK serves clients in Canada through GfK Research Dynamics.
market. Its National Retail Census of Product Distribution provides the size of the retail universe and a complete picture of distribution across all types of outlets. Global website: GfK Retail and Technology
media collected from a single sample
. As a U.S. supplier of multimedia
audience research, the firm provides information to magazines, television
, radio
, Internet
and other media, leading national advertisers and more than 450 advertising agencies, including 90 of the top 100 agencies in the U.S.
:
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's largest market research
Market research
Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy...
institute, and the fourth largest market research organisation in the world, after Nielsen Company, Kantar Group
Kantar Group
Kantar, based in UK, was founded in 1993 as the Market Research, Insight and Consultancy Division of WPP plc, a London-based public company. It is a network of 13 specialist companies, with around 28,500 employees working in 100 countries across various research and consultancy disciplines...
, and IMS Health
IMS Health
IMS Health is an international company that supplies the pharmaceutical industry with sales data and consulting services. IMS Health was founded in 1954 by Bill Froch and David Dubow. Today IMS has operations in more than 100 countries, a global workforce of 7,600+ employees, and revenues of $2...
. It was founded by an association of university teachers, among them Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Erhard
Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician affiliated with the CDU and Chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. He is notable for his leading role in German postwar economic reform and economic recovery , particularly in his role as Minister of Economics under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer...
, later Minister for Economics and Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
of Germany.
In April 2005 it acquired NOP World
GfK NOP
GfK NOP is a leading market research agency based in London, providing business insight through quantitative and qualitative research.- History :...
, based mostly in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, which was rated the ninth largest market research business in the world, a move described by the company as "the most important decision made by GfK since going public in 1999."
Overview
The GfK Group is a worldwide market research organization providing services in the three sectors Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The company's headquarters are in Nuremberg, Germany. GfK is a joint stock companyJoint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
and traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Frankfurt Stock Exchange
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. Located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is owned and operated by Deutsche Börse, which also owns the European futures exchange Eurex and the clearing company...
. It is included in the SDAX
SDAX
The SDAX is a stock market index composed of 50 small and medium-sized companies in Germany. These so-called small caps rank directly below the MDAX shares in terms of order book volume and market capitalization...
index. The Group has a staff complement of 10,000+ employees and their market research services cover more than 100 countries across the world. The company signs off using the slogan "Growth from Knowledge".
Sectors
GfK offers its clients from the consumer goods and pharmaceuticals industry, retail, media and the service sector a comprehensive range of information and consulting services in three sectors. Clients use these services to aid the decision making process in the areas of product and pricing policy, logisticsLogistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
and sales as well as marketing and advertising.
GfK Custom Research: The Custom Research sector is specialized in operational and strategic marketing issues relating to virtually every industrial sector and market. The sources of information for the Custom Research sector are specific target groups of consumers and the medical profession.
GfK Retail and Technology: Retailer POS data is the source for the Retail and Technology sector. The sector supplies clients with information and consulting services based on retail data from continuous surveys and analyses of sales of technical consumer goods and services in the retail sector in more than 80 countries worldwide. With the global production and reporting system StarTrack, processing and delivery follows universal standards; clients can easily access the resulting market information online. GfK Retail and Technology has also developed a comprehensive index to track technical consumer goods markets in more than 30 countries worldwide called GfK TEMAX (Technical Market Index).
Media: The Media Sector delivers information services on range, intensity and nature of media usage and acceptance in more than 20 countries in Europe and the USA. The data source for the Media sector stems from the media (point of media). The services are directed at clients from media companies, agencies and the branded goods industry. The range of available services includes continuous, as well as special one-off studies and analyses. The data sources for the Media sector come from TV, radio, print, outdoor advertising and online.
Germany
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
study, on the cross
Cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...
logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
of pharmaceutical company Bayer
Bayer
Bayer AG is a chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen , Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.-History:...
, and a year later it published the first German purchasing power
Purchasing power
Purchasing power is the number of goods/services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. For example, if you had taken one dollar to a store in the 1950s, you would have been able to buy a greater number of items than you would today, indicating that you would have had a greater purchasing...
figures, which are now also produced for the rest of Europe and overseas. In the mid-1950s, GfK joined the European frontrunners when it adopted consumer panel research
Panel
- Art and comic books :*Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art, such as a triptych, a piece of sequential art such as a graphic novel or comic strip, or a wooden panel used to paint a picture on...
after the research methodology first developed in the United States. It also began expanding its international network at an early stage, and in 1960 GfK SE co-founded the Europanel, which, together with British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
partner Taylor Nelson Sofres
Taylor Nelson Sofres
Taylor Nelson Sofres is a leading market research and market information group. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, the firm was acquired by WPP Group in October 2008 for 1.6 billion pounds.-History:...
(TNS
TNS
TNS can stand for:* Taylor Nelson Sofres, a market research company* Tao Nan School, a primary school in Singapore* Taran Noah Smith, an American actor* Temporal noise shaping, an audio encoding technique* The Natural Step, a sustainability framework...
), conducts continuous studies of consumer purchasing patterns in 26 European countries. The GfK consumer climate study, launched in Germany during 1983, now covers Britain, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and a series of central and eastern European countries. In 1985, GfK began producing German television ratings, first for state-owned broadcasters and later for the Television Research Partnership (AGF
AGF
AGF may stand for:* AGF , a French insurance company* AGF Management Limited, a Canadian investment management company* Amaranth Greenpeace Foundation, an international organization* Ajinomoto General Foods, a Japanese foodstuffs company...
). During September 2005 GfK SE was a sponsor for the “Du bist Deutschland” (You are Germany
You are Germany
Du bist Deutschland was a social marketing campaign in Germany. Its aim was to achieve positive thinking and a new national feeling. It was created by the initiative "Partner für Innovation" consisting of 25 media corporations and was co-ordinated by Bertelsmann...
) advertising campaign, the country's largest multimedia initiative to date, aimed at enhancing Germany’s image. Today, GfK SE is widely acknowledged as Germany’s undisputed market leader, with a market share of well over 25 percent. Germany continues to account for the largest share of GfK’s annual sales.
Custom Research in Germany
- GfK GeoMarketingGfK GeoMarketingGfK GeoMarketing is a German-based company that provides Geo solutions, including GIS software, digital maps, market data and consultancy services.-Company history:...
provides a wide variety of integrated Geo (marketing)Geo (marketing)As a general term, Geomarketing is the integration of Geographical intelligence into all marketing aspects including sales and distribution. Geomarketing Research is the use of geographic parameters in research methodology starting from sampling, data collection, analysis, and...
solutions, including business mapping software (RegioGraphRegioGraphRegioGraph is the flagship business mapping software of GfK GeoMarketing, a Germany-based company that provides integrated Geo solutions, including software, digital maps, market data and consultancy services....
), digital maps, market data and consultancy services. Clients from all over the world make use of GfK GeoMarketing’s products and services to bring clarity to location-related issues. This involves anything from the analysis and visualization of company and market data to the identification of areas of untapped potential and the creation of more efficient sales territories and catchment areas.
Western and Southern Europe
GfK SE began its international expansion into westernWestern Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and southern Europe
Southern Europe
The term Southern Europe, at its most general definition, is used to mean "all countries in the south of Europe". However, the concept, at different times, has had different meanings, providing additional political, linguistic and cultural context to the definition in addition to the typical...
during 1960 by establishing a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. In the late 1970s, GfK set up further companies in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. GfK SE is currently the leading market research company in Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands, the second largest in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(since 2002), and the third or fourth largest in France, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. GfK’s Retail and Technology and Media divisions are the regional market leaders, with continuous television and radio audience research contracts in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The electronic measuring technology used in this type of media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
research was developed by GfK subsidiary Telecontrol, while GfK Eurisko has also created a similar audience measurement
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
tool for measuring radio audiences electronically.
Central and Eastern Europe
GfK was among the first market research companies to move into centralCentral Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. The Group opened its first office in the region before the fall of the iron curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
in 1989, in the form of GfK Hungária. This was only the second foreign-owned company of any kind to be established in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, and was followed in rapid succession by GfK Polonia in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, GfK Praha in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and GfK Rus in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The region now comprises twenty companies in sixteen countries. As of 2006, GfK is the largest market research company in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
; the second largest in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, the Czech Republic and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
; and ranks third or fourth in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Hungary. In 2005, the newly established GfK Kazakhistan launched its Custom Research and Consumer Tracking operations. That same year Russia’s consumer protection association granted an award to GfK Rus for its outstanding contribution to the creation of a modern consumer market. During January 2005, GfK Belgrade received the Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
Company’s Strategic Consumer Insights award for excellence in marketing consultancy. Of GfK's total sales for 2005, roughly 5.6 percent came from this region.
In 2007, GfK Group acquired a 51% majority shareholding in Macedonia’s biggest market research agency, Stratum Research, now trading as GfK Skopje in Macedonia.
Asia and Pacific
The GfK Group has been active in Asia-PacificAsia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...
for 20 years, starting in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, where it acquired its first minority interest
Minority interest
Minority interest in business is an accounting concept that refers to the portion of a subsidiary corporation's stock that is not owned by the parent corporation...
in 1985. It now has subsidiaries in nearly all of the region’s key economies, including Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. In 2005, GfK had subsidiaries in 15 countries and although GfK was only active in the Retail and Technology division until 2005, it was already the region’s fifth largest market research company. In 2005, GfK launched its Healthcare business in Asia in the form of subsidiaries in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
(acquired SoHealthAsia in August 2005) and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, as well as the former NOP World company, GfK Healthcare, in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and GfK Retail and Technology in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. GfK Marketing Services China held its first client conference in Shanghai, on the theme of convergence and digitalization. This was attended by some 250 representatives of over fifty Chinese and international retailers and manufacturers. In November 2007 GfK Group acquired the optics panel from The Nielsen Company in Japan. The acquisition allows GfK a very strong measurement representation to the world market for Optics industry. In 2008, GfK Asia will track the broader Asian Optics industry which includes contact lens, ophthalmic lens, spectacles frames and sunglasses to give the industry a comprehensive view of this expanding market segment.
United States and North America
The GfK Group came one step closer to its long-held aim of gaining a foothold in the United States with its flotationInitial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
in September 1999. In the same year, GfK Custom Research became the Group’s first U.S. research company. This was followed in 2003 by V2 GfK and a year later by GfK Arbor. However, the most important step in GfK’s U.S. business development strategy was the acquisition of NOP World in April 2005, including the Roper Poll brand. This meant that all of the company's divisions except Consumer Tracking now have a presence in the United States and GfK SE has rapidly advanced to be the No. 8 company in the sector. U.S. revenue in 2005 was $316.3 million, up 3.9% from 2004. In 2005, 72.8 percent of total worldwide revenue was from outside the U.S. Roughly 22.1 percent of total sales came from the U.S., and roughly 25.3 percent of the company's income for the year. In January 2009, GfK Audits & Surveys acquired The Nielsen Company's contact lens panel and expanded tracking to include Optics in America.
Custom Research in North America
In 2007, the US-based GfK custom research companies GfK Arbor, GfK Custom Research, GfK NOP and GfK Automotive were unified under the GfK Custom Research North America brand.Headquartered in New York, GfK Custom Research North America (www.gfkamerica.com http://www.gfkamerica.com) is a full-service market research and consulting firm providing access to several of the world's largest consumer databases as well as a full-range of ad-hoc research services. Its sector specific teams cover the consumer packaged goods, financial services, automotive, B2B, technology and media and communications industries. Additionally, the firm's methodological expertise covers brand health monitoring, brand tracking, concept testing, volume forecasting, customer satifsaction and loyalty measurement, mystery shopping
Mystery shopping
Mystery shopping or a mystery consumer is a tool used externally by market research companies or watchdog organizations or internally by companies themselves to measure quality of service or compliance to regulation, or to gather specific information about products and services...
, qualitative and ethonographic research, global and US consumer trends consulting (leveraging the GfK Roper Reports databases), omnibus services, in-mall research delivered through Friedman Marketing Services, online research, public affairs and public opinion polling (including the AP-GfK Poll http://www.AP-gfkpoll.com), and strategic innovation and new product development consulting.
Additionally, GfK serves clients in Canada through GfK Research Dynamics.
Retail and Technology in North America
GfK Audits & Surveys, based in New York, provides retail data collection services, which include sales, distribution, shopper and retailer attitudes and other data on a broad range of products and outlet types, as well as measurements relating to the HispanicHispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
market. Its National Retail Census of Product Distribution provides the size of the retail universe and a complete picture of distribution across all types of outlets. Global website: GfK Retail and Technology
Media in North America
Mediamark Research offers comprehensive demographic, lifestyle, product usage and exposure to all forms of advertisingAdvertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
media collected from a single sample
Sample (statistics)
In statistics, a sample is a subset of a population. Typically, the population is very large, making a census or a complete enumeration of all the values in the population impractical or impossible. The sample represents a subset of manageable size...
. As a U.S. supplier of multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
audience research, the firm provides information to magazines, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and other media, leading national advertisers and more than 450 advertising agencies, including 90 of the top 100 agencies in the U.S.
Health care in North America
The GfK U.S. Healthcare, comprises three healthcare marketing research agencies: GfK Market Measures, GfK Strategic Marketing and GfK V2. Each of the firms has its own set of core offerings, which provides a full range of customer and syndicated marketing research.- GfK Market Measures provides a mix of syndicated and custom marketing research services, supporting market assessment, brand tracking, message effectiveness, sales force effectiveness, healthcare consumer and product launch applications. The firm’s custom research skills include pricing, forecastingForecastingForecasting is the process of making statements about events whose actual outcomes have not yet been observed. A commonplace example might be estimation for some variable of interest at some specified future date. Prediction is a similar, but more general term...
, positioningPositioningPositioning may refer to:* Positioning , creating an identity in the minds of a target market* Positioning , reader context* Positioning , a technology to approximate where a mobile phone temporarily resides...
, concept testingConcept testingConcept testing is the process of using quantitative methods and qualitative methods to evaluate consumer response to a product idea prior to the introduction of a product to the market. It can also be used to generate communication designed to alter consumer attitudes toward existing products...
, message development, promotional effectiveness evaluation and opportunity assessment. - GfK Strategic Marketing, with a full range of quantitative services, supports clients in areas such as pricing, forecasting, clinical trialClinical trialClinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...
optimization and market segmentation. Key products include Uniter, Hospital Uniter and Perceptual Deficit Simulator. The firm’s Qualitative Institute uses a variety of qualitative research methodologies, including cross-cultural projective and elective techniques, to provide counsel at each stage of the product lifecycle. - GfK V2 conducts qualitative marketing research with patients and physicians, as well as conducting advanced analytics and quantitative research. Products include Information Architecture (product positioningPositioningPositioning may refer to:* Positioning , creating an identity in the minds of a target market* Positioning , reader context* Positioning , a technology to approximate where a mobile phone temporarily resides...
), Competitive Analysis of Strategy and Tactics – CAST (war gaming), Market Analysis of Patients and Products – MAPPs (patient flow and treatment maps) and PracticeView (strategic account management).
Financial Performance
In financial terms, 2005 was considered the most successful year in GfK’s history. Together with the former NOP World companies consolidated since June 1, 2005, GfK achieved sales in excess of 937 million euros. This represented growth of 40 percent. At more than 125 million euros, income was up by over 50 percent compared to 2004. Worldwide revenue of GfK SE in 2005 was $1.31 billion, including the NOP World companies for January 1 through December 31, 2005.Top 10 of the Market Research Sector 2009
From the Honomichl Top 50Honomichl Top 50
The Honomichl Top 50 is an annual compilation of the top 50 revenue-generating marketing research firms operating in the United States. The Honomichl Top 50 is published by the American Marketing Association magazine, Marketing News...
:
| Rank | Company | Sales in 2009 (million USD) | Growth in % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nielsen Company | 5,000.0 | 2.6 |
| 2 | Kantar Group Kantar Group Kantar, based in UK, was founded in 1993 as the Market Research, Insight and Consultancy Division of WPP plc, a London-based public company. It is a network of 13 specialist companies, with around 28,500 employees working in 100 countries across various research and consultancy disciplines... |
2,000 | 2.5 |
| 3 | IMS Health Inc. | 1,958.6 | 8.9 |
| 4 | GfK AG | 1,397.3 | 5.4 |
| 5 | Ipsos Ipsos Ipsos S.A. is a global market research company headquartered in Paris, France. The Company was founded in 1975 and has been publicly traded on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1 July 1999... |
1,077.0 | 6.5 |
| 6 | Synovate Synovate Synovate was a market research firm owned by the Aegis Group. It was formed from the acquisition of a number of smaller market research firms. It has a number of different divisions, such as Synovate Healthcare, Synovate Customer Experience, Synovate Censydiam and Motoresearch. They claimed... |
739.6 | 9.5 |
| 7 | IRI IRI IRI may refer to:* International Reference Ionosphere a common scientific project of URSI and COSPAR* International Roughness Index, a dimensionless quantity used for measuring road roughness, proposed as a world standard by the World Bank... |
665.0 | 6.6 |
| 8 | Westat Westat Westat is an employee-owned corporation providing research services to agencies of the U.S. Government, as well as businesses, foundations, and state and local governments.... |
425.8 | 0.8 |
| 9 | Arbitron | 400.0 | 5.9 |