Consumer and retail market research firm, The NPD Group, Inc. has decided to make an investment in Segmenta, a market research firm that tracks the prestige beauty industry in Latin America, including Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Uruguay. As part of the agreement, Mark Turim, president and general Manager for NPD in Latin America, has joined Segmenta’s board of directors.

NPD offers the only retail-point-of-sale tracking service for the beauty industry in the U.S., along with comparable services in France, UK, Italy, and Spain. NPD also offers beauty manufacturers and retailers a range of other services including custom research and advanced analytics. Segmenta provides retail tracking, including data from over 900 stores, across eight countries. NPD’s backing will support development of additional services.

“NPD has put expansion of our beauty services on the fast track,” said Turim. “Our investment in Segmenta gives us a foothold in one of the world’s fastest growing markets for the industry, Latin America. Their strong leadership, proven success market and ambitious plans to roll out new services make Segmenta an ideal partner for NPD as we look to continue delivering more global information to our clients.”

Miguel Argaez, director general of Segmenta, noted that partnership with NPD will give Segmenta the additional resources that it needs to look at new markets that are becoming more and more important to beauty manufacturers. “Our services are highly complementary, and we are looking forward to sharing our knowledge in this area to ultimately benefit the industry,” he said.