Marketing operates on the edge of the unknown, constantly trying to predict and influence the future and reliant on an incomplete understanding of the past and the present.
Information sources used by marketers (i.e., all information) will never be perfect – the need to make estimates and assumptions won't go away – but the new version of our Vividata database certainly provides a more solid foundation for marketing predictions & strategies.
Our intrepid BUS 345 students will be doing some primary research on J.Crew and clothing retail this term. If you're in that class, see below for some initial thoughts on resources that might be helpful.
(And if you're not in that class, but just want a sample topic to use as you explore our powerful market research resources... read on!)
Have you ever been at a party (or in a tutorial... same thing...) when someone brought up a peripheral topic -- not core to your usual research area, but apparently relevant to your studies?
As a seasoned scholar who understands that knowledge doesn't live in isolated silos, you certainly want to learn a bit more about such peripheral topics.
As always, though, time is tight. As much as you love the depth of the millions of books in our collection, you really just need a reasonably brief overview of the topic...
These next few posts are intended for the participants in the EntrepreNorth program supported by SFU Radius, but they may prove useful for any entrepreneur who is at an early stage in their market planning.
My aim with these posts is try to give shape and direction to what can often be a nebulous and confusing process: secondary market research. Along the way, I hope to touch on some big-picture questions...
I’m guessing that you’ve been living with your product idea – mulling it over for months, if not years – and perhaps you’ve already been working in the industry.
You know your product already, and you probably have a pretty good idea who your main customers might be and how to reach them.
Once you decide what additional information you need before you can settle on a strategy, you still have to decide whether primary or secondarymarket research will be the best approach for gathering that information.
Once you’ve got a rough idea of what information you are hoping to find (or infer!), your next step is to spend a few minutes thinking about... Who on earth would care enough about this topic to gather and publish the data?
That is, for each of the questions that you brainstormed earlier, can you predict the likely publishers?
The EntrepreNorth cohort is dealing with too broad a range of products for me to efficiently & proactively suggest different resources from each of the publisher categories. I'll hold off on making such suggestions until I've had a chance to chat with each participant.
What I can offer before those chats, though, are a few broadly applicable search tips...
Great news for those of who like both public opinion polls and open access to lots and lots of data!
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Ontario University Libraries openly release over seven decades of historical public opinion polls and guide
In advancement of library open access and collaborative stewardship of digital data in Canada, Ontario university libraries are pleased to announce the release of over seven decades of important public opinion data to the broader academic community and the public.
