Business Research @ Your Library

Amy J. LeeBusiness Resource Coordinator

Canton Public Library

What Is Your Target Market?

Identify Your IndustryIdentify Your CompetitorsIdentify Your Competitor’s CustomersIdentify a Site For Your Business

Identify Your Industry

Use Reference USA’s Custom Search to look for the NAICS code (North American Industry Classification System) in your

industry or go to http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/ Having trouble finding your code? Look up the name of a

known competitor.

Identify Your Competitors

After identifying your industry, identify the competition in your area

Identify the Location of Your Competitors

Locating Competitors

Use the geography field to target cities, zip codes or metro areas

Locating Competitors

Use the mapping option to search by zip code

Locating Competitors

Use the ‘Define Radius’ option to search a target area

Competitor Characteristicstarget companies

Identifying an industry and location will provide a list of target companies

Competitor Characteristics

Things to look for:LocationBusiness SizeSales Volume

Competitor Characteristics

Locate key info

here!

Competitor Demographics

Competitor’s Customers

Information Needed:

– What type of people are they trying to attract?– Hobbies, spending habits, etc.– Overall lifestyle traits– Other psychographics

Psychographics

Psychographics are characteristics about groups of people, including their consumer lifestyle,

specifically for market research.

Psychographic Characteristics

Use Demographic Detail Comparison information to look at Census information

and compare different geographies.

Mosaic Information

Use the Mosaic Population Comparison to view the most common ‘Mosaic’ types in

DemographicsNow

Mosaic Example

• Mosaic is a consumer segmentation tool that describes American Consumers.

• It is a household-based segmentation system that classifies all U.S. households and neighborhoods in 71 Unique Mosaic types and 12 groupings that share similar demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

Choose ‘Create Custom Locations(s)’from the drop down menu under the

Demographics tab.

Site Prospecting

Add points by typing in addresses of potential locations

Use the Comparison menu to choose information regarding several categories of

statistics and demographics

Retail Sales Potential Comparison is a helpful category for site comparison

DemographicsNow will give demographic comparisons of specified categories for 1,3, and 5 mile ranges from the chosen points (you can also choose drive times).

Map the variables by choosing the Maps tab

Choose the desired variables

Choose the ‘Thematic Layer’ option to view the map with a color key