24-784 – Decision Tools for Engineering Design and Entrepreneurship
Profs. Fuchs and Michalek
Library Resource Guide for Finding Market Data
Preliminaries
- Databases listed below are in italics, and also can be found on this list.
- If you’re off campus, login here first.
- Library homepage – everything else.
Industry overviews and surveys
Find industry leaders, market size and market share, 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.) If you don't find your industry here (because it is a niche industry, or a new one) then try the News Sources, below - a specific trade publication will often have articles on trends and annual outlooks.
- 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.
- Hoover's First Research - hundreds of brief and timely overviews - connects to company profiles in each industry
- 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.
- Business & Company Resource Center - To get an industry report: use "Advanced Search" - then change dropdown box to "Industry Overviews" and use a keyword to find a list of options. For market share reports: search for your company, then select the Rankings tab at the top, and then then click on Market Share that appears below it. For market size, do an "Articles" search, and look for "market size" in the list of subcategories.
- Investext/Thomson Research - analyst reports from banks and brokerage firms on industry trends and conditions.
- 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]
- Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage website - use "Industry" tab - best for major industries
- Industry statistics from U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Programs - get industry statistical "snapshots."
- marketresearch.com - this is an aggregator of summaries of market research reports - which, though too expensive to purchase, often have valuable free data in their abstracts and tables of contents: i.e. overall market size, identification of issues and trends, major companies, industry structure.
- International:
- U.S. Commercial Service prepares detailed market research for foreign markets on a wide range of industries.
- Mergent - major industries covered in each country.
U.S. Government - agencies of the federal government often support entrepreneurial efforts, and produce market-oriented reports, in their areas. Do a google search ending in "site:.gov" to limit to governmental sources.
Demographics and characteristics of consumer markets
- LexisNexis Statistical - the "Customize Data" segment provides demographics, health, income, expenditures, prices, retail trade, etc., with various breakdowns and graphing and mapping applications. The other segments provide the data from thousands of statistical publications.
- Factfinder.census.gov – voluminous demographic data on the U.S. from national to zip code level. For most current data, use the American Community Survey segment.
- SimplyMap - creates thematic maps, reports, and graphs based on data: demographics, retail sales and sales potential, consumer expenditures and preferences, market segments, etc. - at geographic units from national to block group level. Not so easy to use, but it has voluminous data - to get started, try the tutorials. Open segments within the "Variables" tab to see the range of data available.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States – easy-to-find statistics on everything.
Consumer spending and attitudes:
New Strategist publications - in the Hunt Library reference room or online:
Best customers : demographics of consumer demand, HC79 .C6 R87 2008
American attitudes: what Americans think about the issues that shape their lives [ebook]
Generation X : Americans born 1965 to 1976, HC110 .C6 G46 2006
The Millennials : Americans born 1977 to 1994, HQ796 .M4797 2004
Ten things you need to know about the college market , HF5415.332 .C64 T45 2008
Who we are : Blacks, E185.615 .W46X 2007
Who we are. Hispanics, E184 .S75 W46X 2007
Who's buying alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, HD9348 .U52 W46 2005
Who's buying executive summary of household spending, 2006 [ebook]
Who's buying for pets, SF414.7 .W46 2005
Surveys:
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
Consumer Surveys from the Univ. of Michigan/Reuters
Consumer Expenditure Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Pew Research Center
Link to various survey sites
Competitors
News sources - trade and industry publications:
There is considerable overlap among these databases, but also many unique items in each one. Use search terms such as “market,” “forecast,” “trends,” “industry overview,” etc. along with your own market identifier, i.e. “solar energy."
- Proquest – wide-ranging news database containing many smaller databases within it - thousands of publications, including complete Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
- Business & Company Resource Center – click on "Articles" - thorough and international coverage, large range of industry publications
- Lexis-Nexis Academic – most wide-ranging industry news database available
Books on an industry: Use the library catalog to locate entire books focusing on an industry.
Questions?
Contact the librarians:
- Sue Collins, EPP Librarian, sc24@andrew.cmu.edu, (412) 268-5019
- Donna Beck, Engineering Librarian, donnab@andrew.cmu.edu, 412-268-7213
- Roye Werner, Business & Economics Librarian, rwerner@andrew.cmu.edu , (412) 268-2453
- Hunt Reference Desk - huntref@andrew.cmu.edu, 412-268-2442
- Engineering & Science Reference Desk - sciref@andrew.cmu.edu, 412-268-2427
- Ask a question via the library's chat service , Mondays - Fridays from 1- 5 pm.