Top Sources for Industry & Market Research
Researching your industry and market is integral to successful business plan research. Industry & market research reports found on commercial databases give insight into:
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To learn more, check out the Getting To Know Your Industry video tutorial on the Small Business Accelerator. The purpose of the tutorial is to interactively help you become familiar with market research basics and guide you to find credible sources to inform your industry analysis.
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Here are our top databases to consult with for your market research:
- Business Source Ultimate This link opens in a new windowProvides access to journal articles, books and videos related to business, management, economics, banking, finance, and accounting. Use for finding articles, case studies, and company and industry information.
- Canadian Industry StatisticsIndustry Canada's reports and data on Canadian Industries.
- BCC Research This link opens in a new windowProvides market analysis and forecasting on a wide range of major emerging technological and scientific developments in the industrial, pharmaceutical and high technology sectors worldwide.
- CB Insights This link opens in a new windowThe CB Insights tech market intelligence platform analyzes millions of data points on venture capital, startups, patents, partnerships and news mentions to predict emerging technologies and trends.
- eMarketer This link opens in a new windowMarket research and trend analysis on Internet, e-business, online marketing, media and emerging technologies.
- IBISWorld Industry Reports This link opens in a new windowContains full-text market research reports for Canadian, US and global industries. Reports cover industry structure, trends, competitive landscape and operating conditions.
- Passport GMID This link opens in a new windowInternational statistical and market research reports for over 200 countries, covering consumer products and services, demographic and lifestyle reports and economic data.
- Vividata This link opens in a new windowData on Canadian consumers, print readership, product usage and lifestyles. (Formerly Print Measurement Bureau)
- Business Performance and Ownership: Financial Statements and PerformanceStatistics Canada releases on financial performances of a variety of industries, including service industries. This is useful if you would like to at financial ratios and benchmarks in an industry.
Top Sources for Company and Competitor Research
Researching your competitors helps you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your idea. Use directories to identify competitors by industry, product line, etc. Find business environment risks and competitor strategies in corporate filings and annual reports and article databases. Explore patents to learn about competitors' products.
Top sources for company information are listed below. For more sources, consult the Company Research guide.
- Business Source Ultimate This link opens in a new windowProvides access to journal articles, books and videos related to business, management, economics, banking, finance, and accounting. Use for finding articles, case studies, and company and industry information.
- EDGAR This link opens in a new windowUS public company filings submitted to the US Securities & Exchange Commission. Use for: finding financial and competitive information and documents (financial statements, reports) for US publicly traded companies.
- SEDAR (System for Electronic Document Analysis & Retrieval) This link opens in a new windowFull-text filings and annual reports of Canadian publicly traded companies filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators.
Top Sources for Consumer Research
Knowing about your consumers is an important part of market research. You will want to research demographics (age, income, education), location, and behavioural information. You may use several kinds of sources, depending on your focus.
Top sources for Canadian and international consumer information are listed below. For more sources, refer to the Consumers page of the Industry & Market Research Guide.
- Vividata This link opens in a new windowData on Canadian consumers, print readership, product usage and lifestyles. (Formerly Print Measurement Bureau)
- Passport GMID This link opens in a new windowInternational statistical and market research reports for over 200 countries, covering consumer products and services, demographic and lifestyle reports and economic data.
- 2016 CensusThe Census Program provides a statistical portrait of the country every five years.
Economic Environment
The larger economic environment has implications for business planning. Some of the resources that you have already used in your industry and competitor research, will have articulated the larger economic context. Also try:
- RBC Economics ResearchEconomic indicators, current analysis reports.
- Statistics CanadaData and reports on Canadian consumers, industries, and economic conditions