Dive Brief:

• Data science firm dunnhumby announced this week it has acquired marketing and promotions management company Aptaris.
• The merger caps a strategic partnership that brought dunnhumby’s data science together with Aptaris’ workflow and vendor management program, creating what the companies call the only end-to-end promotions management platform in the market. Retailers that have implemented the platform include Associated Wholesale Grocers, Mitchell Grocery and Weis Markets.
• “We look forward to using our synergies and combined assets to take our customer data science platform to the next level of innovation, and deliver greater value for our clients,” Guillaume Bacuvier, CEO of dunnhumby, said in a statement.

Dive Insight:

In today’s competitive food retailing market, grocers are looking to improve efficiency and personalize their offerings for shoppers. Data science, streamlined management platforms and — increasingly — artificial intelligence are all tools that are helping them do this.

According to dunnhumby and Aptaris, their platform helps retailers improve efficiency at each stage of the promotional process, from planning to measuring results. The goal is to save money, but also to streamline retailers’ processes and take the guesswork out of the execution of promotions.

Large retailers like Kroger, which was formerly tied to dunnhumby, are well-known for leveraging data science and efficiency programs, but the competition is quickly catching up. Last year, dunnhumby and Aptaris worked with Weis Markets to fine-tune its promotions and marketing. Aptaris’ software logged and managed product submissions from vendors, while dunhummby’s algorithms modeled the retailer’s trade promotions and predicted their impact on sales, profit and consumer behavior.

Similarly, last summer Mitchell Grocery signed on with the two providers to improve promotions and pricing across its 200 supermarkets.

The merger is a logical step for two companies that have worked together so closely. It’s also yet another example of service providers merging in order to offer enhanced value for retailers. This includes AppCard, a personalized marketing and shopping analytics platform, acquiring ProLogic Retail Services, which provides loyalty marketing solutions provider for independent grocers. It also includes, perhaps most notably, Instacart acquiring Unata, adding a suite of digital services to its leading online platform and home delivery program.