National Consumer Panel

National Consumer Panel (NCP) is an organization that collects data on consumer purchasing behavior. It was born out of a partnership between the two leading consumer insight providers in the United States, IRI and Nielsen. NCP analyzes a sample set of U.S. consumer’s purchasing behavior, providing companies with actionable insights.

NCP’s panel is made up of approximately 1,500 consumers who have partnered with NCP to track and report on their purchase behaviors. Historically, NCP lent each participant a barcode scanner that was kept in the individual’s home. When the participant returned home they would scan each item they purchased and manually enter data, like which member of the household purchased the item and the location of the purchase. The process was time consuming and tedious. NCP needed to streamline and modernize data collection; they needed a mobile app that would allow participants to scan, input, and upload their purchases using their personal device.

NCP approached Exadel because of our ability to assist in prototyping and providing proof-of-concepts. Exadel and NCP worked together to brainstorm a strategic direction aligned with company goals that could then be followed by the development of a working prototype that would form the foundation of the mobile app.

Exadel utilized the following technologies:

Urban Airship
Exadel used Urban Airship to enable NCP to manually push notification to its users. The push notifications are initiated based on a non-automated process.

Red Laser
Exadel integrated Red Laser as the barcode scanner that reads the UPCs on the purchased products, reducing the amount of manual entry.

Flurry/Apps Flyer
Exadel implemented the app analytics tool to track a number of metrics, including: daily app opens, number or users, and usage frequency. Flurry/Apps Flyer tracks detailed in-app behavior metrics, providing valuable data to evaluate the possible need for future updates.

Exadel developed a mobile app that allows participants to easily and conveniently scan purchases in real-time. NCP can now communicate with users by messaging them at random or based on user behavior. Another important feature of the app is its offline functionality, allowing users to continue to utilize the app in bad or low data connection areas. This has made collecting data easier for the participants and NCP. Additionally, because it replaces scanners, the app has reduced NCP’s hardware costs.