ME 263
Conducting Market Research
Market research involves finding and analyzing competitor information, demographics, and industry information.
The databases and links available here will lead you to relevant, quality information. Further assistance is available by visiting the Reference Desk of the Management & Economics Library.
Identification and description of the customers
Describe the potential customers
Find statistics and demographic information
Identify a target selling price
Find similar products
Identify a target sales quantity
Determine how much it will cost to run your company and what the potential market will be
Customer and engineering requirements and target values
Review recent research and federal regulations
Descriptions and analyses of competitive products and relevant patents
Seek companies producing similar products
Conduct effective patent research
Articles
- ABI/Inform: General and academic business articles
- ABI/Inform Trade & Industry: Trade and industry-focused publications
- Business & Company Resource Center: Information on companies, rankings, and much more.
- Business Source Premier: General and academic business articles.
- US Census Bureau: The central source for population, age and ethnicity statistics.
- US Statistical Abstract: A compilation of many sources this provides statistics on population, age, ethnicity and more.
- STATS Indiana: Indiana demographic and economic statistics.
Company Research
- Business & Company Resource Center: Information on companies, rankings, and much more.
- ReferenceUSA: (Krannert Only) Company profile database: brief information is provided.
- Thomas Register: Directory of companies, products, and services.
- CatalogExpress: Access to catalogs or manufacturers for product and component information. Engineering and related disciplines.
Industry Overviews & Market Research
- BizMiner: Market & financial analysis for small and startup companies
- Business & Company Resource Center: Information on companies, rankings, and much more.
- Frost Market Research: Market research reports
- Marketresearch.com Academic: Market research reports
Government Agencies
- U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: Search the Patent & Trademark database to determine what has been invented by others.
Associations
- Associations Unlimited: Database of thousands of regional, national and international associations.
Other Resources:
- Marketing research books in the Purdue Libraries
- Developing questionnaires books in the Purdue Libraries
Searching the Internet:
- Google:
- Use Advanced Search
- Limit to .edu or .com or some other domain
- Limit to pdf file
Use more than one search engine:
SearchEngineWatch: Links, reviews, and articles on search engines.
Thumbshots: compare results across search engines