Denver, CO - In the beginning of 2009, the GfK Group acquired Etilize through its subsidiary ENCODEX, expanding the existing ENCODEX catalog to include Spex, a North American and European catalog. Spex contains over 5 million Information Technology, Consumer Electronic and Office Supply products in over 20 languages. 

As of May 15, 2009 this combined offering of Etilize and ENCODEX will be globally marketed under the name Etilize. It represents the largest catalogue for technical consumer and office supply products in the world, not only in number of products and brands, but also in country coverage and number of customers.

Both Etilize and ENCODEX clients will continue to receive the most up-to-date, and high quality product data they have come to expect  with more products, features, and regional coverage.

This combined product offering will bring North American clients access to over 2 million European products in more than 20 languages. As well as powerful tools for selling in these markets: The Market Indicator (provides average sales price and sales success for European products) and Energy Expert (green-compliant electronic devices).

European clients will now have access to Spex, which contains more than 5 million products, mostly in the Information Technology and Consumer Electronics sector. With Spex, European clients have access to rich content like 3-D demonstrations and product manuals, up selling and cross selling tools, marketing descriptions, and 100% coverage of manufacturer part numbers.

In our increasingly challenging retail world, the power of product data is quantifiable. Retailers who provide quality data to assist shoppers with buying decisions can expect higher conversion rates and average order values than their competitors. The ENCODEX/Etilize merger creates the world´s largest and most comprehensive product catalog for technical consumer and office supply products.

For GfK Retail and Technology, the GfK sector which oversees Etilize, this merger brings not only a combined product catalog but also a workforce of highly skilled content specialists. These content specialists provide efficiency gains and cost savings for the retail tracking business.