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Market Research  

Last Updated: Mar 28, 2012 URL: http://guides.library.cmu.edu/marketresearch Print Guide RSS UpdatesShareThis

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Demographics and characteristics of consumer markets

  • EASI Market Planner in ProQuest Statistical Datasets
    open up the EASI Market Planner folder at the left for hundreds of datasets on consumer demographics and usage/spending patterns for products and services within all states, counties, census tracts and block groups in the U.S. Under "Industries" you'll be able to map companies as well. The data can be mapped, graphed and analyzed using the interactive tools.
  • Passport GMID
    for consumer products only: market sizes, industry sectors, consumer lifestyles, companies and brands in over 200 countries – current, historical, and forecasted. Both raw data and written reports. Start with "Countries & Consumers" at the top.
  • ProQuest Statistical Insight
    (for .pdfs) - and its companion ProQuest Statistical Datasets (for straight data, graphing and mapping) - provide the data from thousands of statistical publications and organizations for datasets on demographics, health, income, expenditures, prices, retail trade, etc.
  • SRDS Local Market Audience Analyst
    (need to use Internet Explorer browser) - understand target markets, their behaviors and lifestyles. Correlates geographic, demographic, and psychographic data with purchasing behavior.
  • American Factfinder
    voluminous demographic data on the U.S. from national to zip code level. For most current data, use the American Community Survey segment.
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States
    easy-to-find statistics on everything.
  • Population Studies from the Census Bureau
    including international statistics and topic breakdowns.
  • Another idea: media kits for magazines
    give a demographic profile for their specific clientele, i.e. Game Informer Magazine for video gamers, Car & Driver for auto enthusiasts (just Google a magazine title and "media kit")
 

Industry overviews

Find industry leaders, statistics, current status, future trends, histories and profiles of the industries here. (If you look up the NAICS/SIC numerical codes for your industry first, this will be a bit easier.)

  • IBISWorld
    In-depth industry market research reports with analysis, data, conditions, segmentation, market share, primary companies, and outlook for over 700 industries in the US.
  • Standard & Poor's Netadvantage
    use "Industry" tab - standard source for reports on primary industries
  • First Research Industry Profiles (in ProQuest database)
    data and lengthy analytical reports on hundreds of specific industries- enter a word describing your industry (i.e. banking) in the search box.
  • Frost & Sullivan
    Detailed reports on technology aspects of many industries. For academic use only. Some are read-only.
  • Value Line Investment Survey
    101 more short overviews, from an independent investment analyst service.
  • Datamonitor (formerly MarketLine)
    in-depth profiles of thousands of specific industries in many countries, from the research firm Datamonitor; for consumer products, use the "Value Consumer Markets" section on the right side.
  • Gartner
    specializes in IT products and services. (Note: Dataquest reports are not in our subscription.)
  • ProQuest
    has various market reports - search for: industrywide conditions and [your industry term]
  • Association website for your industry
    (you'll be surprised at what you can find here.) Try googling key words (i.e. "robotics organization" will turn up the Robotics Industry Association) or Google's Directory: Associations by Industry. When you've found your association's website, look for links to research, data, publications, statistics, conference proceedings, etc.
  • Industry Statistics from the Census Bureau
    get industry statistical "snapshots."
  • International: US Commercial Service
    prepares detailed market research for foreign markets on a wide range of industries
 

Market share

Market Share Reporter online - use any keyword for your industry or company
IBISWorld reports contain market share data in their "Key Competitors" sections
Passport GMID - for all consumer products worldwide - use Search to identify industry and geography; then select "company shares" or "brand shares" on the left.  (If it's not there, broaden your industry choice, i.e. from dark beer to beer.)
 

News sources on markets, industries

Often the best reports on industries, such as an annual review, appear in their trade journals - found in these databases. Use search terms such as “market,” “forecast,” “trends,” “industry overview,” etc. along with your own market identifier, i.e. “organic food."

 

Competition/BTB company listings

Major competitors are covered in "Industry overviews" section above. For more complete listings of companies in an industry see:

 

Books on consumer groups, doing research

Use the library catalog to find related books.  In the "Subject" box, type in:

  • marketing
  • consumer behavior
  • advertising

Example:

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