Happen - the tech firm and consultancy that helped Tesco.com come up with its ‘Freshly clicked’ branding and encouraged Weetabix to launch On The Go protein drinks - has been acquired by Accenture.
Since it was founded in 2007, Happen has worked with a long line of brands and retailers to assist them in identifying market opportunities and the creation of new products.
The London-based firm, named technology supplier of the year in the 2019 Grocer Gold Awards, was acquired by Accenture for an undisclosed amount.
Happen employees will join the innovation practice within Accenture’s Industry X.0 business.
“Joining Accenture will enable us to scale our offerings and capabilities and deliver our services to an even greater range of clients,” said Happen co-founder Mark Cowan.
Happen claims credit for helping M&S map how shoppers move around its stores in order to tweak customer routes, which it says doubled revenue for breakfast cereals and increased snack purchases by 40%. It worked with Cadbury to engineer production adjustments that gave one of its factories the potential to create 100 new formulas of chocolate bar, some of which became the Big Taste range.
Among the firm’s offerings is emotion analytics tool StarMaker, which listens to what people are saying about retailers and suppliers online and what emotions customers are displaying about a product. Users can then adapt their strategy accordingly. Another is Asset-Out, which promises to “uncover the unexpected innovation possibilities that already exist in your factories”.
“The acquisition further enhances the analytics, design and engineering capabilities we use to help clients deliver relevance at scale to a marketplace of millions of individuals,” said Eric Schaeffer, who leads Accenture’s Industry X.0 practice.
No comments yet