Media Metrix Adds Scanner to Research Tools

Measurement firm Media Metrix Inc. Wednesday added a new tool to measure e-commerce purchases, thanks to a partnership with Information Resources Inc.

Information Resources (IRIC) is a marketing research that uses universal product code scanner data and software. It will work with Media Metrix (MMXI) to deploy e-SCAN, a service designed to track where specific brand/category buyers go on the Internet and measure their responsiveness to Internet advertising.

“e-SCAN is the first service that delivers real, substantive information about the relationship between Internet usage and consumer purchase behavior — vital knowledge for consumer packaged goods companies,” said Jim Chambers, group president U.S. Business, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI). “. . .e-SCAN is the first solution that pulls together all the pieces of the Internet puzzle on a household by household basis — Internet usage, Internet advertising, and actual products purchased.”

e-SCAN combines Media Metrix’s meter technology with IRI’s ScanKey in-home scanner to correlate consumers’ Internet activity with their actual purchase of packaged goods products: volume purchased, purchase cycles, promotional effectiveness and brand loyalty.

Features of the service include:

• e-profile — correlates brand and Internet usage profiles
  among target audience segments
• e-testing — tests the sales effectiveness of various Internet
  advertising approaches
• e-response — applies custom analytics and modeling to Web
  marketing scenarios

To facilitate e-SCAN usage, Media Metrix installed its metering software on the PCs of several thousand existing IRI Shoppers’ Hotline panel members.