The IFH offers research and consulting services around retailing in the digital age. Retailers as well as manufacturers in the consumer goods industry benefit from the variety of services and the wide retailing knowledge of the IFH-experts. Founded at the University of Cologne in 1929, the IFH is committed to academic research as well as its application in managerial practice. On the one hand there is the academic research with international orientation at the Department of Retailing and Customer Management (Director Prof. Werner Reinartz) at the University of Cologne. On the other hand, the for-profit oriented IFH and its associated E-Commerce-Center (ECC) generate managerially-focused data, author applied research projects and recurring studies, and organize industry conferences. In 2014, the 40 team members held more than 200 external presentations and authored 32 commercial studies which yielded more than 2300 press mentionings. 

Association of Friends of the IFH

The Association of Friends of the IFH actively supports the activities of the IFH and the connection between academic research and managerial practice application. In exchange, the member companies benefit from valuable industry insights, an outstanding network, and exclusive offers. These include, amongst others, early access to current IFH studies, rebates on many services, and access to IFH experts (for example for in-house presentations). The Association of Friends of the IFH is led by a board of senior managers from major companies in the retailing and consumer goods industry.