Market & Industry Research Strategies

The following resources can be used to research market and industry research strategies.

While these resources are generally the most relevant, there may be other resources available. If you are looking for something in particular or cannot find a lot of information about a niche segment, please Ask Us.

Start with Reports

Reports provide written overviews, helpful statistics, and give you a sense of where the analyst thinks the industry or market is headed. New, niche, and disruptive industries are often harder to find represented in existing reports. 

Then, Explore the Many Other Options

This guide has suggestions for when you can't find a report or you want more information. See also industry-specific guides. 

Not sure where to start? The following resources aggregate statistics and information from many sources on a wide range of industries and topics. Use these as a starting point to find additional sources to investigate further.

There are so many groups, beyond industry and market report providers, who provide insight, data, and statistics about industries.

Industry Associations

Industry and trade association websites often contain industry news and information, although some data may be available to members only. Look for sections called: "news," "research," "resources," "library," or "data."

Industry Analyst Reports

Analyst reports are written by Wall Street analysts and typically focus on factors that would influence a public companies performance. Analyst reports can be focused on companies, industries, or regions. 

Industry News & Publications

Sometimes, the only information available are from news and trade outlets (i.e. AdAge, Chronicle of Higher Education, Auto News Daily, etc.). You can get some access through search engines, but for more advanced searching and more coverage try the following.

Government Data & Reports

US Government 

The US government creates a lot of data and reports that are available online, but can sometimes be hard to find.

For example, if you're looking for market information on the organic whole chicken (broilers) market the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service has production, sales, and inventory data for the past 20 years, the USDA Economic Research Service provides market outlook for poultry and eggs, and the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service provides news briefs on the organic poultry market.

Here are some places to start if you're not sure what agency would have information: 

• Google your topic + location (if necessary) + site:.gov (or .mil, if US focused) + filetype:pdf. Example: [organic broiler industry site:.gov filetype:pdf]

Non-US Government Data

For non-US market and industry data and analysis, you can try searching government websites for the countries in question (sometimes you will need to be able to read the nation's language, as not all websites will have an English version).

You can search via Google limiting to country codes, or do a general Google search [country + industry + data]

Regulators

Regulators can be government agencies (like the FDA for pharmaceuticals in the US) or professional groups that control professional standards and licenses. Many of these organizations collect and make available all sorts of data and information. If you can't find it on their website contact them to see if they have additional information. 

NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations)

NGOs, like the United Nations (UN) or World Bank also collect and distribute lots of reports, analysis, news, and data on markets and industries around the world. You can find a lot through searching online along with the organization's name. Particularly helpful organizations to look at are: