South Africa – IRI has today announced a partnership with Diageo, the world’s largest producer of spirits, to co-create an auditing solution which will provide the most accurate and comprehensive view of South Africa’s combined Top End Grocer (TEG) and traditional trade liquor market.

Working alongside auditing partners Frontline, IRI’s TradeEdge™ Liquor solution gives Diageo unprecedented access to comprehensive data relating to national and provincial beer, spirits, wine and alcoholic fruit beverage sales from traditional store channels, such as taverns and local bottle stores. Frontline has started conducting wide-ranging monthly audits of traditional liquour store channels, providing the partnership with hard data about a liquor market said to be worth around

ZAR 106 billion in 2016, according to the World Health Organisation.

 

Due to the unavailability of EPOS data from traditional channels, obtaining accurate information to provide a true picture of the South African liquor market has always proved challenging for the industry. IRI will now provide statistically significant data on a range of key success metrics giving manufacturers reliable information to inform and execute route to market strategies. This competitive advantage will allow major players in the liquor industry, such as Diageo, to exploit the huge growth potential in the region.

Justin Korte, commercial director for Diageo South Africa said: “Diageo was extremely excited when IRI approached us with a partnership opportunity to co-create such a solution in the form of a traditional trade liquor audit of the South African market. Diageo has partnered with IRI for more than 10 years and believes its investment with IRI in the traditional trade audit will deliver a competitive advantage in unlocking the real value and insight of this sector of the market. This gives us the ability to focus on the tavern and local bottle store segments at a regional and granular level.”

Korte continued: “Embarking on this project with IRI enables us to combine insights from the traditional trade audit and formal trade reads, thereby step changing our business.”

Martyn Freemantle, interim managing director for IRI South Africa said: “While some of our competitors provide manufacturers with a limited overview of liquor sales, IRI’s solution goes much further. We analyse significantly larger datasets, allowing us to provide more granular information about the liquor store and channel universe within South Africa.”

Freemantle continued: “Combining the different liquor categories, we’re able to drill down into national, provincial and observational sales data. Equipped with such a high degree of indepth and actionable intelligence, our clients are given greater clarity of important market trends. This information allows branding and marketing professionals to understand how their liquor brands are performing, helps focus on and identify strategic opportunities and provides accurate measurement of brand initiatives within these two very diverse TEG and traditional trade markets.”

 

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About IRI
IRI is a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics and forward-looking insights that help CPG, OTC healthcare, retailers and media companies to grow. With the largest repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all integrated on an on-demand cloud-based technology platform, IRI guides over 5,000 clients globally in their quests to remain relentlessly relevant, capture market share, connect with consumers and deliver growth. www.IRIworldwide.com. Follow IRI on Twitter.

About Diageo
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol  and produce an outstanding collection of over 200 brands – old and new, large and small, global and local – that are enjoyed in more than 180 countries around the world.

For further information please contact us at:
Tel : +27 21 700 7420
Email: ZACommercial@IRIworldwide.co.za