Wednesday, 9 February 2005

After yielding annual growth of 40% over recent years, research institute Zapera is gearing up for more growth. Focus is now directed towards the Swedish research market, where Zapera has been active since 2001 – and for that reason the board is to be strengthened with local competence!

Peter Brännström, 50, Senior Vice President, Director of Distribution, Posten Sverige AB, is to join the board of research institute Zapera.com A/S. Peter has an impressive track record which includes several major assignments at Posten Sverige AB; most recently with total responsibility for Distribution, which employs nearly 20,000 personnel. Peter Brännström has also been Managing Director of Observer Sverige AB and Thomson Fakta AB.

Peter Brännströms extensive business experience within such fields as Business Intelligence solutions and corporate information systems will naturally give Zapera a big boost in competence and skills. Peter is also highly respected and well-known on the Swedish business scene and I look very much forward to working with him”, says Henrik Dyring, Zapera Chairman and Managing Director of Eniro in Denmark.

More focus on Sweden

Zapera is the leading provider of net-based research in the Nordic region, becoming one of the biggest in just a few years, with growth levels that achieved 50% in 2004! There is still a lot of untapped potential in the Danish research market, but the board and executive management jointly believe that extra focus can now be applied to the Swedish market, estimated to be around 2½ times as big as the Danish. Online research is really making an impact at this time in Sweden.

"I am delighted that as part of our plans for expansion in Sweden we are able to take advantage of such highly-qualified local expertise of the calibre Peter Brännström has to offer. For a small business such as Zapera, it’s something of a scoop that we can attract someone of his status," states Zapera’s Managing Director, Lars Lund-Nielsen. "Peter’s recruitment is just the first of many steps we are taking towards building a major market share in Sweden."

Zapera shows the way

As the first research institute in the Nordic region, Zapera ran opinion polls over the Internet in the autumn of 2001 in countries such as Norway and Denmark. Since then, the company (which specialises exclusively in online research) has shown the way for the rest of the industry, including the introduction of online exit polls in Denmark and Sweden. Zapera has so far run 2,500 online surveys - which means it launches more than one new survey every day on average!

"Zapera’s focus has always been that our net-based method should be an attractive alternative to traditional methods, such as telephone and postal surveys. That’s why we put so much effort into ensuring quality and balanced representation in our surveys. We are delighted that quality-conscious research buyers in the Nordic region have realised that and our client portfolio now includes such names as SAS, Nordea, Arla and Kelloggs", states Jens Laugesen, Senior Research Manager of Zapera.

Online sector still smaller in the Nordic region than in the USA

Online research in the Nordic region still only account for less than 10% of the total market, but Zapera believes this figure will grow rapidly over the next few years, primarily at the expense of traditional telephone-based research. Zapera is all set to take its share of that growth.

Lars Lund-Nielsen, Managing Director of Zapera says:

"In the USA, which is usually two or three years ahead of Europe on the research front, the share of the online sector is 30% of the total market. I have no doubt that in the course of the next five years we will see online services take up to a third of the market here. This is a trend for which Zapera will be a driving force with our extensive experience, competence, quality and reliability."

More information:

Chairman of the Board, Henrik Dyring, +45 40 38 40 18 or email hdy@eniro.dk

Senior Vice President, Posten Sverige AB, Peter Brännström, +46 8 781 2001, or email peter.brannstrom@posten.se

Managing Director, Zapera, Lars Lund-Nielsen, mobile +45 40 80 80 40 or e-mail lln@zapera.com

Senior Research Manager, Zapera, Jens Laugesen, mobile +45 2516 1995 or e-mail jnl@zapera.com

Facts on Zapera:

Zapera was established in January 2000 as the first research institute focusing exclusively on Nordic online research. Via international partners, the company is now capable of running online research throughout the western world. Zapera has subsidiaries in Finland, Sweden and Denmark, serving around 300 clients in the Nordic region and has 32 employees. The company has its own respondent panels in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Estonia.