Retail Eyes, a UK ‘customer experience improvement agency’, has been bought out by Market Force Information for an undisclosed amount.
Retail Eyes, a UK ‘customer experience improvement agency’, has been bought out by Market Force Information for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition will allow Retail Eyes to develop the business in the European markets, with Retail Eye’s office in Buckinghamshire becoming the Market Force European headquarters.
The combined business will provide services including mystery shopping and in-store auditing through its analytics platform.
According to a statement Market Force, which is based in Colorado in the US, has spent the last few years developing technology and patent-pending analytics systems that analyse customer-related data streams.
Tim Ogle, chief executive officer of Retail Eye, says the deal will be the ‘springboard’ for further growth for the business.
Ogle adds: ‘We have achieved fantastic results since we launched in 2003. In the last year alone – and despite challenging economic conditions – we achieved 46 per cent growth with a turnover of £9.6 million.
‘Market Force’s experience and support will give us the financial experiential resources needed to grow the business further, both here in the UK, as well as throughout Europe.’
The deal adds 100 clients to Market Force’s portfolio. According to a statement the expected joint revenues of the companies is expected to be £45 million in 2011.
Chief executive officer of Market Force, Karl Maier, says: ‘As the world becomes increasingly global, our customers need to drive consistent performance across every store, whether in New York, London, Toronto or Berlin.
‘The acquisition will enable us to serve our multi-national clients, as well as extend our services to new markets that have huge potential for growth.
