ACNielsen Conducts Wal-Mart Town-Hall Meeting Event Focuses On Retailer-Manufacturer Collaboration.

Business Editors

BENTONVILLE, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2, 2000

ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen Corporation (NYSE:ART), today conducted a town-hall meeting for Wal-Mart and consumer packaged goods manufacturers that do business with the retailer.

The meeting, taking place in conjunction with the official opening here of an ACNielsen client service office dedicated to serving Wal-Mart, included a keynote presentation from Don Cannon, senior vice president, food merchandising, Wal-Mart Supercenters. Cannon discussed Wal-Mart's Store of the Community initiative, a project in which the product assortment in each Wal-Mart store will be customized to meet local market preferences.

Also speaking at the event, attended by numerous Wal-Mart executives, buyers and analysts, as well as over 150 representatives from manufacturers that do business with the retailer, were Tim Callahan, president, ACNielsen U.S., Todd Hale, senior vice president, ACNielsen consumer analytics, Jeff Saitow, vice president, ACNielsen U.S. retail services, and Jean-Jacques Vandenheede, vice president, ACNielsen Europe retailer services. The meeting was designed to foster greater collaboration between Wal-Mart and its many suppliers through a better understanding of Wal-Mart's customers and the unique markets the company serves.

Callahan spoke to the growing need for collaboration between retailers and manufacturers, while acknowledging the impact that consolidation in the CPG industry is having on those same relationships. "Consolidation is ongoing, yet clients continue to demand more and better ways to streamline category management. We're confident that ACNielsen has the right tools and expertise to effectively facilitate that collaborative process," Callahan told the audience.

Saitow announced the availability of new analytical solutions that ACNielsen has created expressly for Wal-Mart and its suppliers. They include custom sales-reporting capabilities designed according to Wal-Mart-defined trading areas, electronic consumer insight templates structured around Wal-Mart's proprietary view of its business, and a series of educational events for Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart suppliers. The educational series, known as the KnowledgeMasters program, will focus on ACNielsen solutions such as the Homescan(R) consumer panel suite of syndicated information products.

Hale used ACNielsen Homescan information to provide insights on Wal-Mart consumers, their shopping habits and practices, their demographics, where else they shop, and how Wal-Mart and its suppliers can leverage consumer information to drive Wal-Mart sales. Vandenheede discussed global trends drawn from some of the more than 100 countries where ACNielsen conducts research.

According to Callahan, the Wal-Mart meeting marks the beginning of a planned series of retailer-oriented town-hall meetings ACNielsen will conduct. "It's important for retailers to meet with its major suppliers as a group from time to time to make sure there is a mutual understanding of the retailers' markets and objectives. Both sides end up winning from the experience. Our intent is to use our various information and analytical tools to help bring about that understanding."

ACNielsen, with 1999 revenue of $1.5 billion, 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.