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Kantar Worldpanel (formerly TNS Worldpanel) is an international company leader in consumer knowledge and insights based on continuous consumer panels. Kantar Worldpanel is part of the Kantar Group the Market Research, Information and Consultancy Division of WPP.

Through market monitoring, advanced analytics and tailored market research solutions, Kantar Worldpanel analyses what people buy, what they consume and the attitudes behind this behaviour. Their clients include brand owners, private label manufacturers, Meat, Fruit and Vegetable suppliers, retailers, market analysts and government organisations.

Kantar Worldpanel has a team of 3.000 and services covering more than 50 countries with direct ownership or through partners. They work in fields such as FMCG, impulse products, beauty and personal care, fashion, baby, telecommunications and entertainment.

History[link]

Kantar Worldpanel’s first panels were founded in the 40’s in companies like Attwood Statistics Limited in the UK (1948) and Secodis in France (1969). The latter soon started to expand their coverage, firstly to Spain in 1973 and afterwards to Portugal in 1989.

In the 70’s and the 80’s, other companies also started creating new panels. In 1976 Taylor Nelson launched the first usage panel for food and drinks in the UK. In 1980 NFO created a usage panel for beverages in the United States. And in 1985, IBOPE launched a consumer panel in Brazil (1985).

In the 90’s the consolidation and development of the consumer panels network accelerated. In the UK, AGB and Taylor Nelson merged to create Taylor Nelson AGB in 1991, so bringing purchase and usage panels into the same company. In France, Sofres acquired Secodip in 1992 and soon started planning the development of new consumer panels in Asia and Latin America. Both groups came together in 1997 when Taylor Nelson AGB and Sofres merged to create Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS). All consumer panels were then taken into a specific division that in 2003 started using the TNS Worldpanel brand.

At the same time that all these corporate movements were taking place, the network expanded across different regions. In Asia, between 1997 and 2002, six new consumer panels were developed and launched successfully using the Frank Small Associates’ network that Secodip had bought in 1995. The first launch took place in Taiwan in 1997. Two years after, in 1999, Korea and Thailand were added to the network, and Philippines and Malaysia then joined in 2000 followed by Vietnam in 2002. Meanwhile, In China, TNS began a partnership in 1999 with local research company CVSC, who had started a panel two years earlier. In 2001, TNS and the parent company of CVSC formed a new joint venture company called CTR (CVSC TNS Research) and the consumer panel in China joined the Worldpanel network.

In Latin America, after the first Secodip panel launch in Argentina in 1996, a partnership between IBOPE and NDP launched another new panel in Chile in 1998. In 2000, IBOPE, NPD and TNS created the LatinPanel joint venture, a name given to represent the existing Brazil, Argentina and Chile operations. The acquisition of Samimp adds the existing panels in Peru and Bolivia to LatinPanel in 2002. In 2004 TNS acquired two additional companies, Data in Central America and CIMA in Colombia and Venezuela bringing their consumer panels into the regional network. Finally, Ecuador and Mexico panels are also built and launched in 2004 and 2005 respectively, consolidating LatinPanel business in the region. In 2007 TNS became owner of LatinPanel to bring together the Latin American network with Worldpanel in other regions.

In North America, as a result of the Taylor Nelson Sofres acquisition of NFO in 2003, the beverages usage panel is incorporated to the group. In 2006, TNS Worldpanel reinforced its presence in the US with a new personal care usage panel.

In 2008 TNS is bought by WPP, which resulted in the strategic decision to create a stand alone company 100% focused on consumer panels and branded Kantar Worldpanel.

At the same time that the company built its international coverage, other kinds of developments were deployed through the network. The initial focus in FMCG is soon widened to increase the number of sectors covered. Now Kantar Worldpanel measures fashion, telecommunications, entertainment and fuel among other products. The range of methodologies has also been transformed form traditional mail questionnaires to a wider range to meet the demands for every market including bar-code scanners, internet and SMS. And recently, the company has developed its first international panel (Worldpanel Comtech in 2006) and the new leading edge delivery tool Worldpanel Online (2010).

External links[link]

• Kantar Worldpanel
• Kantar Imagine with UNICEF