Industry Research
Industry information includes:
- Competitors - who is already operating in a space. Your products will compete on price, quality, and differentiation.
- Market share and size - how fragmented or concentrated a market is as well as how much sales are. Trends will give you an idea of where the potential of sales may be heading.
- Suppliers - and the supply chain of the raw materials for your product. This is important as what affects your suppliers will affect your ability to get raw materials.
- Distribution channels i.e. how the product gets to customers.
- Operating costs - how much do you pay in labor, raw materials, equipment, sales, etc.
In short, industry information is about the operating conditions for all the firms making/selling a product or service.
When researching an industry, use a combination of industry reports, trade journal articles, and trade associations to get the most complete picture. The more niche or new an industry, the less likely there will be a published industry report. When that happens you will need to rely on trade journals, industry associations, and information on individual firms (SEC filings, articles, press releases, interviews) to pull together the information.
Top Picks: Industry
These are great starting points for understanding your industry.
- TechnavioGreat for finding niche industry and market information across B2B and B2C manufacturing spaces. If you are looking for information on packaging, plastics, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, recycling, et cetera, take a look here.
- IBISWorldCovers hundreds of industries. Reports are great for showing related industries, supply chain, drivers, cost structures, and success factors.
- ABI/InformGreat source for international industries and in particular petrochemical, pharmaceutical, transportation, and agribusiness related ones. Search for the Fitch Solutions Industry Insight Reports in publication title along with a keyword search for your industry.
Market Research
Market research is similar to industry research except instead of focusing on the companies in an industry, it focuses on who the customers are and why they buy what they do.
You might look at market research to determine trends that might affect your sales. For example, if you are manufacturing pharmaceuticals then demographics and rates of disease will affect the forecasted demand for your product.
Finding B2B market information can be very difficult and depends heavily on the particular market you are looking at. Passport has B2B information for industrials, ingredients, and packaging. Technavio has B2B for healthcare and pharmaceutical related spaces. If your project is B2B focused and you are having difficulty finding information, email us for guidance on your market.
- Mintel Global New Products DatabaseGNPD has profiles on thousands of consumer packaged products around the world. Profiles include price, packaging, ingredients, and claims. Use the "Analyze" feature to group thousands of products by topic (e.g. ingredient, price, claim) or year to allow you to see trends or retail price groups.
- Mintel AcademicInsights is great for finding consumer attitudes towards specific products as well as drivers behind purchasing decisions. Great for understanding different demographic groups and how they may differ in purchasing decisions.
- PassportExcellent for international market and industry research covering both B2C and B2B spaces. Packaging, recycling, ingredients, beauty products, consumer electronics, and other goods are covered.
Additional Sources
If you cannot find information you need in the Top Picks list, try the following resources and/or contact the Management Library. There may be other sources available depending upon your particular project. For example, trade associations and journals are great sources of information particularly for B2B markets.
- Frost & SullivanMarket research and strategy reports covering areas like Chemicals, Materials and Food, Energy & Power Supplies, Healthcare, Industrial Automation & Process Control, Measurement & Instrumentation, and more.
- StatistaA collection of statistics on a variety of topics. Sources include governments, NGOs, market research firms, company filings, associations, and more. Look to the source for information on methodology so you can assess the quality of the information.