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BUS 275 - Community-Engaged Entrepreneurship : Data sources for market and industry research

What are Market and Industry research?

A new business needs to do market research on potential customers as well as industry research to look at the existing market landscape to determine how its products will fit in.

Market Research looks at consumers: what they buy, who they are, what they value, which companies they buy from, etc.

Industry Research looks at companies operating in an industry: market size v. achievable market size, who makes the product or service, market share, competition, and how the industry operates.

Market Research

Sources of consumer information data

Government data

The U.S. government is the single largest collector of data about the U.S. economy and industries. Some agencies you will probably use data from:

Much of this information is more easily accessed in:

Pollsters / Public Opinion Surveys

Industry Associations, Reports and Trade Publications

Use advance Google searches to find industry associations: Google "industry name + association + site:.org"

ex. restaurant association site:.org

Once you find these organizations, look on their websites for sections called News, Reports, Resources, Education, etc. Some of these resources will only be available to members of the trade/industry association, but many will be available for free.

Newspapers

Reputable & specialist publications (ex. The Economist and The Wall Street Journal) will report on consumer trends and market conditions, policies and regulations affecting consumers

Librarian

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Karoline Manny
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Contact:
Karoline Manny
600 West Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422
859.238.5299

Industry Research

Sources for industry research data

General US Economic Data

Industry Reports

Use advance Google searches to find industry associations: Google "industry name + association + site:.org"

ex. restaurant association site:.org

Once you find these organizations, look on their websites for sections called News, Reports, Resources, Education, etc. Some of these resources will only be available to members of the trade/industry association, but many will be available for free.

 

Business Profiles

When searching for industry information, find your industry's NAICS

What is a NAICS code:

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. Many databases will return better results if you use the NAICS number for an industry.

To find the NAICS number for an industry, search here: