Category responsibility, measured
Partner with BARS to protect your category at retail
Manufacturers depend on the retail channel to sell their regulated products responsibly. BARS works directly with manufacturers and brand owners on independent data about how your category gets handled at the register. We also fund or co-fund compliance check programs at strategic retail partners.
7.5M+compliance checks behind the benchmark data, going back to 1997
A regulated category is only as healthy as the retail channel that sells it responsibly.
No product is ever purchased in a BARS check. The Checker carries an item to the register, the associate asks for ID or doesn't, and the transaction stops there. What comes back is a clean read on how your category gets handled at the counter. Partnerships range from category benchmark subscriptions to co-funding compliance check programs at strategic retailer accounts. Either way, the manufacturer never takes operational control of the retailer's program.
Why independent category data matters
Put a number on the link between compliance investment and category health.
Category responsibility documentation
Evidence for regulators, investors, and your own board.
Find your highest-risk accounts
See which regions and retail accounts benefit most from more training investment.
Historical benchmarking
Your category against BARS aggregate data going back to 1997.
Retailer independence preserved
The retailer stays the client of record and controls who sees the data.
What manufacturer partnerships look like
From data subscriptions to co-funded programs at strategic accounts.
Subscribe to category benchmarks
Aggregated, anonymized carding behavior across your category.
Co-fund a retailer program
Back a strategic account without taking operational control of it.
Document your commitments
Evidence of your category-responsibility work, for regulators and investors.
See what category data is available.
Tell us your category and the question you are trying to answer. We will outline the data and the partnership options within one business day.
Common questions
Can a manufacturer pay for a retailer's compliance program?
Do you publish category-level benchmarks?
Let's talk
Protect the category you depend on.
A short conversation covers the data subscriptions and co-funded program options that fit your category. No pressure, no preset deck.