News Release
Market Force Information Acquires Certified Marketing Services,
Inc.
Acquisition makes Market Force Information™
the only customer experience information and insights company to
provide integrated mystery shopping, direct customer feedback, merchandising
services and analytics from a single provider
Boulder, Colo. (February 06, 2008) —Market Force
Information, Inc., the leading customer experience information and
insights company, announced today the acquisition of Certified Marketing
Services, Inc. (“CMS”), a full-service, national marketing
and merchandising services organization. This acquisition makes
Market Force Information the only company in the industry to offer
a truly full-service, integrated suite of mystery shopping, direct
customer feedback, on-site merchandising and analytics services
from a single provider.
With more than 27,000 in-field representatives and over 50 years
of industry experience, CMS brings multiple capabilities to the
Market Force platform through three leading business units.
Serving clients in the retail and consumer packaged goods industries,
the Certified Merchandising Services division is a national merchandising
services organization providing product resets, POS/POP placements,
new package conversion, category resets and updates, retail blitz
coverage, inventory control and signage conversion across the United
States and Canada.
CMS also provides critical intelligence at the theater level for
all of the motion picture distributors and trade associations through
its Certified Reports division. Certified Reports has been the industry
standard for theater checks and installation services to the motion
picture industry for over five decades.
Finally, the Certified Marketing Research Services business unit
offers complete lines of research services, including mystery shopping,
store profiling, ad compliance evaluations, POP/display checks,
inventory audits and intercept interviews.
“CMS was built upon operational excellence, vertical expertise
and strong customer relationships,” said Bill Smith, CEO of
CMS. “We believe that Market Force will take these values
to the next level with insight and innovation in a rapidly evolving
market. We are excited to join them in pursuit of perfect customer
experiences, unparalleled actionability and visible results for
our customers.”
“CMS brings valuable expertise to our team and leading products
to our platform,” said Karl Maier, CEO of Market Force. “This
acquisition is particularly exciting for the retail industry because
it makes Market Force the only one-stop shop for on-site merchandising
services along with a range of other complimentary customer experience
solutions. Traditionally, retailers are forced to obtain all of
the on-site customer experience services they need through multiple
vendors requiring multiple data delivery platforms, and those programs
are often poorly integrated as a result. Now retailers will have
one reliable partner for all of these services integrated with robust
analytics, giving customers a single, more complete and actionable
view of their customer experience.”
CMS complements Market Force’s successful prior acquisitions
of Shop’n Chek Worldwide in 2006 and Speedmark Information
Services in 2007, playing a key role in the company’s mission
to transform the customer experience information and insights industry.
The combined company will continue to aggressively grow the business
through key acquisitions and new product introductions, providing
clients with the very latest innovations, technologies and solutions
to perfect the on-site customer experience.
About Market Force Information:
Market Force Information, Inc. is the leading global customer experience
information and insights company for multi-location businesses including
major retailers, restaurants, drug and grocery stores, financial
institutions and consumer packaged goods companies. With over 70
years of combined industry experience, Market Force Information
has pioneered the industry with a suite of customer experience information
solutions – from 280,000 mystery shoppers, to real customer
surveys, to expert evaluation – that provides actionable insight
into the customer’s ‘moment of truth’ and gives
its clients a holistic view of their customer’s in-store experience.
For more information, please visit:www.marketforceinfo.com
About Certified Marketing Services:
Certified Marketing Services, Inc. is a full-service, national merchandising
field organization offering a full range of merchandising, theater
checking / installation and on-site research services. With more
than 27,000 field representatives, CMS has been helping clients
in the entertainment, retail and CPG industries make sound, well-informed
business decisions since 1956. For more information please visit
www.certifiedmarketingservices.com.
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