GfK Retail and Technology USA

GfK Retail and Technology USA

GfK Retail and Technology USA, previously GfK Audits & Surveys, operates within the U.S. as part of the Retail and Technology business unit of the GfK Group, one of the world's largest research companies. We are proud to be a part of the dynamic and growing GfK family as well as to carry forward our unique heritage within the U.S. research industry.

The original Audits & Surveys was founded in 1953 by Dr. Solomon Dutka, who at the time was Chief Statistician of Dun & Bradstreet. Although trained in the field of physics and statistics he was also a major innovator of market research methodologiess and analyses.

The new company's first clients were marketers of candy and ballpoint pens, which were sold through a broad range of outlets. These clients wanted a measurement of their total sales through all outlet types. In order to determine exactly where these products were distributed, Dr. Dutka devised a unique study that consisted of in-person visits to all outlets in randomly selected land areas, a method now known as "Area Probability Sampling". This study became the Annual U.S. National Retail Census of Product Distribution. It was, and continues to be, the largest and most complete source of reliable information on the number and types of retail and service establishments selling various product categories and specific brands. The National Retail Census provides manufacturers with the most accurate measurement of their product penetration and that of their competitors in every type of retail outlet carrying their product category, as well as tracking the changes in the universe of retail and service outlets. Today, it still serves as the basis for GfK Audits & Surveys sample development and projections in a broad range of markets including Pet Nutrition, Optical Products and Jewelry.

The company expanded rapidly from a single office sales measurement operation to the largest privately held market research company in the United States, offering both sales measurements and survey-based research. The company went public in 1995 and, in 1999, it was totally purchased by United Business Media, a British company that already owned several Research and Media companies. After a series of further mergers and acquisitions (RoperASW, NOP World), the original Audits & Surveys then became part of GfK SE in 2005. GfK SE was founded in 1933 and is currently ranked among the top market research companies worldwide.

Today, the company still remains focused on the retail environment and offers a wide range of custom and multi-client programs that encompass sales measurements, distribution studies, in-store activity and promotion evaluations, customer experience programs, shopper behavior analyses, trade sentiment surveys and an array of customized, ad-hoc retail studies.