Product locator service Destini comes to Canada

Canada, meet your Destini.

Chicago-based Destini, which helps consumers find thousands of CPG products at store level, is bringing its six-year-old service to Canada as part of the Canadian launch of Nielsen’s newly launched Connected Partner Program.

Destini is one of three launch partners for the Connected Partner Program, joining Moncton, N.B.-based predictive forecasting company Fiddlehead, and St. Catharines, Ont.-based Caddle—a mobile app that incentivizes consumers to fill out surveys about their brand preferences, watch ads or post to social media.

Garrett Kowalyshyn, vice-president of retail strategy and activation for Nielsen in Toronto, describes the Connected Partner Program as an ecosystem that allows its data to be shared with approved partners to support the needs of shared clients.

“Our clients get to work with the partners they want to work with; they have a better experience because the partners’ solutions are enabled by Nielsen data, and they get to spend their time doing what they want to do, which is figuring out how to move their business forward,” says Kowalyshyn.

The Connected Partner Program was established last year in the United States, where it has grown to just over 40 connected partners. Kowalyshyn says Nielsen’s goal in Canada is to bring aboard a “steady stream” of new partners throughout the year.

Established in 2012, Destini helps connect consumers with more than 700 CPG brands through an embeddable frame on a brand’s website, a dynamic locator script on individual websites, or a custom Facebook application on a brand’s Facebook page.

According to Destini, the product locator page is typically the second-most trafficked page on the majority of CPG websites, with its service providing an easy path to purchase.

Powered by Nielsen’s retail measurement data, it imputes product availability data for more than 6,200 stores across the country.

“We know that the biggest driver of sales for any product is for consumers to be able to find it,” says Kowalyshyn. “Destini helps consumers find a product in whatever store location it’s being sold in.”