We're proud of our past

In 1934, Professor Wilhelm Vershofen founded GfK. Our mission was simple: “Make the consumer heard.” It’s a mission that has guided our thinking from the start.

1934 – Professor Wilhelm Vershofen founds Nuremberg-based scientific institute, “Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung.” It was the birth of institutional market research in Germany.

1960s – We begin a major push to expand internationally under the auspices of the GfK-nonprofit organization, GfK Verein

1984 – Our commercial activities are taken over by the GfK GmbH

1990 – GfK GmbH becomes a public limited company

1999 – We are now in 37 countries

2005 – We acquire NOP World, which includes 47 companies and more than 1,500 employees. We become one of top five largest and most successful market research organizations in the world

Today – we have 12,000+ employees in over 100 countries