GfK

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For other uses, see GFK (disambiguation).
GfK
TypeSocietas Europaea
IndustryMarket research
Founded1934 (1934)
HeadquartersNuremberg, Germany
Key people
Peter Feld (CEO)[1]

Lars Nordmark (CFO)

Thomas Ebeling (Chairman of the Supervisory Board)
Revenue€1.5 Billion (2014)
€52.4 million (2014)
OwnerKohlberg Kravis Roberts
Number of employees
8,000+ (2021)[2]
Websitewww.gfk.com

GfK (slogan: English Growth from Knowledge) is a world-leading provider of data and analytics to the consumer goods industry. It is headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany.

GfK was founded in 1934 as GfK-Nürnberg Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung e.V. The company’s founding management board included the future German Minister of Economic Affairs and Federal Chancellor Ludwig Erhard.

The GfK-Telemeter (also known as GfK-Meter) is a device to measure the TV ratings. It is deployed in a representative subset of households and registers the selected channel second by second (including the use of videotext and video recordering and replaying), while differentiating between registered users.

History[]

GfK was founded as GfK-Nürnberg Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung e. V. in 1934 by university lecturers from Nuremberg, among them the future German Minister of Economic Affairs and Federal Chancellor Ludwig Erhard. The concept was developed by co-founder Wilhelm Vershofen.[3]

Initially, the association conducted 71 different studies, including:

  • Awareness of trademarks
  • Personal care and soap consumption in Germany
  • Structure of beverage consumption in Germany
  • Patient and pharmaceuticals
  • The motorist assesses the road maps from fuel companies

After the war, GfK’s activities during the years 1934 to 1945 were investigated by the American occupying powers. Following this investigation, GfK received a license to continue its activities in 1947.[4]

In 1984, the commercial activities were spun off into GfK GmbH, which was renamed GfK AG on January 23, 1990.[10] At that time, the “GfK Association” was limited to promoting market and sales research.

In 2010, the company was the fourth-largest market research company by revenue.[5]

In December 2016, the investment company KKR made a takeover bid for 18.54 percent of the company's shares.[6]

Since March 2017, GfK SE has been majority-owned (96.7%) by the investment fund Acceleratio Capital N.V., a holding company of the American private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.[7]

In the autumn of 2018, GfK’s French competitor Ipsos acquired a division of GfK with 1,000 staff dealing with client-specific projects for 105 million euro.[8]

In 2020, GfK launched a new AI-powered platform. Therefore, customers can access relevant data in real time and receive recommendations for action based on predictions.[9]

Acquisitions[]

In April 2005 it acquired NOP World (originally National Opinion Polls), based mostly in the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy, which was rated the ninth largest market research business in the world.

In May 2008 it acquired an equity stake in Deep-Packet Inspection company Qosmos in order to track and monitor Internet usage for marketing research.[10]

Organisation[]

The management team of GfK SE consists of six individuals (as of: 1 February 2021):[2]

  • Peter Feld (CEO)
  • Sean O’Neill (CPO)
  • Lars Nordmark (CFO)
  • Jutta Suchanek (CHRDO)
  • Joshua Hubbert (COO)
  • Benjamin Jones (CTO)

Strategic direction[]

In addition to collecting and processing data on consumer behavior, GfK's core business also includes advising companies using technology-based applications.

GfK serves the following industries worldwide: technology & consumer durables, retail, consumer goods, automotive, financial services, media and entertainment.[2]

It collects data on over 180 million SKUs and surveys over two million people in 15 countries, working in compliance with accepted rules of marketing and opinion research practice and guidelines produced by the market and social research associations (such as the ESOMAR Standards) which contain mandatory requirements. By providing real-time insight into market activity, GfK enables its customers to make key business decisions in areas such as marketing and sales.[2]

Since 2020, GfK has offered its customers an AI-powered platform which uses relevant data to provide forecasts and produces recommendations to facilitate critical business decisions.[9]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ "Legal | GfK Global". www.gfk.com. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "About GfK | Growth from Knowledge | GfK". www.gfk.com. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  3. ^ "Gründung". NIM - Nürnberg Institut für Marktentscheidungen e.V. (in German). 2014-12-30. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  4. ^ "Entwicklung". NIM - Nürnberg Institut für Marktentscheidungen e.V. (in German). 2010-07-08. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  5. ^ "Global top 25 grow 4.1% to $18.7bn, says Honomichl - News". Archived from the original on 2012-09-19.
  6. ^ Reuters Staff (2017-02-11). "KKR succeeds with Gfk stake purchase, clears way for turnaround". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  7. ^ "Höhe der Barabfindung für Squeeze-out bei der GfK SE mitgeteilt". www.tagesspiegel.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  8. ^ "Ipsos has reached an agreement with GfK to acquire 4 global divisions of GfK Research". Retrieved 2001-06-21.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Business Reporter: The power of evidence-based forecasting". FinanzNachrichten.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  10. ^ "Error Page" (PDF). 19 December 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2014.

External links[]

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