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.
- TechnavioTechnavio provides market research reports for a variety of global industries, including technology, healthcare, retail, energy, aerospace, consumer goods and automotive. Unlimited report viewing is available, but each Cornell email address is limited to 20 downloads per month.
- IBISWorldIBISWorld provides industry research reports and profiles for over 700 United States industries as well as a wide range of industries in China. Business reports for five categories: industry market research, industry risk ratings, company research, global industry research, and economic and demographic data. Each report provides key statistics, market characteristics and segmentation, industry conditions, leading competitors, industry performance analysis and future outlook.
- ABI/InformABI/Inform, an extensive international business and management database, contains bibliographic citations, abstracts, and full text of articles appearing in professional publications, academic journals, and trade magazines published worldwide. ABI/Inform covers the areas of accounting, banking, computers, economics, engineering management, communications, finance, health care, human resources, insurance, international trends, law, management, marketing, public administration, real estate, taxation, transportation.
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 AcademicOffers yearly market research reports covering UK, Europe, US and International consumer markets for products, markets and demographics. Analysis includes market sizes and forecasts, market trends, market segmentation, competitive context, broken down segment performances, retail channels, consumer demographics and survey results, leading companies, brand share, marketing strategies, and more.
- PassportExcellent resource for international industries, countries, markets, and products. Market research reports, statistics, and analyst reports cover consumer market sizes, country market data, forecasts, consumer lifestyles, companies and brands, and many product & location specific reports.
- StatistaStatista provides access to statistics and studies gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources on over 600 industries.