Circana

Circana is a Chicago-based market research and technology firm (formed from the 2023 merger of IRI and NPD Group) tracking 2,000+ consumer categories across 500,000+ stores in 20 countries, serving ~7,000 brands and retailers. A leading source of prestige-vs-mass beauty and fragrance performance data used by retail strategists and brand planners. The merger combined IRI's strength in grocery and CPG point-of-sale data with NPD's deeper footprint in specialty retail, apparel, and beauty, creating one of the few research firms with meaningful cross-channel visibility across both mass and prestige tiers. Circana's panel and receipt-based methodology gives it longitudinal purchase data that syndicated surveys cannot replicate, which is why it remains a primary reference for category sizing and share-shift analysis in fashion-adjacent categories.

First mentioned: April 2026