CHICAGO and KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Jan. 23, 2024 –Circana™, formerly IRI and The NPD Group, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Golf Datatech, the golf industry’s leading independent market research firm. Golf Datatech tracks and delivers insights into golf retail sales, inventory, pricing, distribution, and consumer behavior across the U.S., U.K., Sweden, France, and Germany. Golf Datatech’s highly complementary, valuable data assets and talented team of industry experts will augment Circana’s existing sports tracking expertise and insights, broadening Circana’s coverage of the U.S. golf market to include all major channels of retail sales, including golf specialty, green grass shops, mass retailers, sporting goods, and e-commerce.

“We are thrilled to enter into this agreement with Golf Datatech to expand Circana’s sports tracking business with deeper insights into the golf market,” said Kirk Perry, president and chief executive officer of Circana. “Golf Datatech’s market leadership, combined with Circana’s existing capabilities, will provide clients with a more comprehensive view of the market and unmatched insights to drive their growth. This acquisition supports our strategy of providing clients with a complete view of the customer, store, and wallet across categories and geographies.”

Tom Stine, a founder and one of the three principal partners at Golf Datatech, said, “We are pleased and excited to join the talented team at Circana, advancing a shared vision of accurate and timely insights that empower companies to make informed decisions. When Golf Datatech was founded in 1995, there was very little on-/off-course data available. Over the last nearly 30 years, we have carved out a unique place in the global golf industry providing unbiased insights, and we look forward to bringing our expertise and proven track record of success to Circana to be able to offer more valuable insights and solutions to clients around the world.”

The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed by March 2024. Under the terms of the agreement, Golf Datatech will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Circana. Circana plans to integrate Golf Datatech’s data assets into their leading Liquid Data® technology platform.