ACNielsen Begins Tracking OTC Remedy Sales in Convenience Stores; New Categories Available Now.

Business Editors

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 2002

ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen, a VNU company, today announced that its industry-leading Convenience Track(TM) service now reports on sales of numerous over-the-counter (OTC) remedies, making it the only information service to track sales of such products in convenience stores. The announcement was made here during the annual National Association of Convenience Stores conference. The new categories are:

Cold Remedies (Adult & Children's)         Antacids
Pain Remedies                              Anti-Gas
Sinus Remedies                             Breath Fresheners
Cough Drops                                Oral Antiseptics
Cough Syrups & Tablets                     Vitamins
Throat Lozenges

John Petrakis, senior vice president, Marketing, ACNielsen U.S., said, "We are very pleased to add OTC remedies to the list of categories we report on with Convenience Track. With the launch earlier this year of our Homescan RX/OTC panel, and now the ability to track OTC remedy sales in c-stores, ACNielsen is able to provide an unparalleled portfolio of mission-critical insights to the manufacturers of such products. In addition, our many c-store retailer clients can, for the first time, benchmark their sales of OTC remedies against market-wide sales where they compete. This expansion of our category coverage reflects ACNielsen's continued commitment to providing the consumer packaged goods industry's premiere convenience store measurement service."

The ACNielsen Convenience Track service utilizes both scanning data as well as store audits to measure sales in the convenience channel. Since just 50 percent of convenience stores use point-of-sale scanners, and only 25 to 30 percent of stores can provide complete and accurate data on a timely basis, it is essential that audits be conducted in non-scanning stores to derive the most accurate measurement of sales in the convenience store channel.

Convenience Track is the only c-store service to provide sales information on a local market level. Thirty markets are available for non-alcoholic beverages, candy, other tobacco, ice cream, frozen novelties, energy bars, cookies, crackers, nuts, meat snacks, other salty snacks, and the OTC remedy product categories named above. The service monitors beer sales in 22 markets and in client-defined custom areas.

ACNielsen, a company of VNU N.V., is the world's leading market research firm, offering measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics, consumer attitudes and behavior and new and traditional media in more than 100 countries. Clients include leading consumer product manufacturers and retailers, service firms, media and entertainment companies and the Internet community.

Note to Editors: Look for this press release and other ACNielsen news on the Internet at http://acnielsen.com/news.