EXERCISE 3: Consumer Segment Information
- Find more information on the consumer segment or audience that is the focus of your research.
Who is your audience?
Two kinds of information will help you profile your market: demographics and psychographics.
Demographics
Demographic data, or simply demographics, refers to things about people that can be objectively counted and verified. While race/ethnicity, gender, income and age are major demographic categories, this can also includes things like educational attainment and ways of getting to work.
The primary source of this kind of data in this country is the US Census.
Remember, demographics doesn't capture the beliefs or attitudes of those populations--that's psychographics.
Psychographics
Psychographics look at groups of people based on their attitudes or beliefs. Sometimes referred to as "lifestyles," this category is of particular interest to marketers and advertisers.
Psychographics usually build on demographics, which look at groups based on quantifiable things like race, age, marital status, income, etc. For example, if you wanted to open an upscale restaurant in a particular neighborhood in a city, you'd probably do a two-part marketing study: demographics will tell you what percentage of the residents are married, have a college education, and have an income over $100,000 (among other things); psychographics, on the other hand, will take that same neighborhood and tell you how many are willing to pay for good food or are busy with no time to cook.
Good Databases for Demographics
- Explore Census DataLearn about America's communities through our data profiles. They cover 100,000+ different geographies: states, counties, places, tribal areas, zip codes, and congressional districts. For each, we cover topics like education, employment, health, and housing.
- Proquest Statistical Abstract of the USThe ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. The online version includes monthly updates to tables, deep searching at the line-item level, powerful facets for narrowing search results, image and spreadsheet versions of all current and historical tables, along with links to provider sites.
Good Databases for Psychographics
These databases are useful for psychographic information.
- 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.
- SimplyAnalyticsSimplyAnalytics is a web-based mapping application that allows you to create thematic maps and reports using demographic, business, and marketing data for the United States. Excellent source for locating demographic and marketing data for specific geographic locations.
- Claritas's MyBestSegments"The Segment Explorer is an interactive tool that lets you examine segment groups based on demographics and behaviors. Once you have identified a segment group, you can click on each segment tile to view more details about the segment's traits. If you are a subscribed user, you will be able to download detailed information about each segment."
Print Sources
The Baby Boom by Publication Date: 2009Data on baby boomers extracted from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and repackaged in an easy to use format. Includes data on the spending patterns, income, demographics, and psychographics of baby boomers.- Generation X byPublication Date: 2009-01-01Ithaca: New Strategist Publications, 2001. Data on young adults extracted from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and repackaged in an easy to use format. Includes data on the spending patterns, income, demographics, and psychographics of young adults.
- Older Americans byISBN: 1935114263Publication Date: 2009-01-01Data on senior citizens extracted from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and repackaged in an easy to use format. Includes data on the spending patterns, income, demographics, and psychographics of senior citizens.
- The American Marketplace: Demographics and Spending PatternsCall Number: Olin Library Oversize HA203 .A63 +Available in full text via link to Lexis/Nexis Academic. Also available at Olin Library.
- American Generations byISBN: 1885070462Publication Date: 2002-11-01Data on U.S. consumers from different generations extracted from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and repackaged in an easy to use format. Compares the attitudes & behavior, education, health, households & housing, income, labor force, population, spending, and wealth of the different generational groups.
- Consumer dimensionsNew York: Media Dynamics, 2003. Discusses and provides data reflecting and projecting demographic and consumer behavior trends. Includes data on internet usage and e-commerce. Some data from ACNielsen, Total Research Corp, and other market research firms.
Finding Demographic Information--Video
This video uses the topic of car sharing as an example; however, you should search for your own consumer segment or audience.
Finding Psychographic Information--Video
Click on video to play and click on box in bottom righthand corner to enlarge. Click Esc to exit fullscreen.
This video uses the topic of car sharing as an example; however, you should search for your own consumer segment or audience. Also note, under the Mintel Reports USA section there's a whole section on Retailing and Apparel.
Creating a Mintel Profile
1. Access Mintel via link in 'Good Databases for Psychographics' box
2. Click 'I Agree' on bottom of first page (conditions of use)
3. On main Mintel page, click 'create profile' (see red arrow below):
4. On next page, create your profile. When you are done, click 'create profile' and you will log into Mintel.
