Research Guides: Sales Prospecting Research: Industry Prospecting

Research Tools

Assess Industries & Market Opportunities

Research trends, issues and drivers within an industry, profile potential regions or communities and gather data to assess new market opportunities.

NetAdvantage
NetAdvantage provides industry overviews for 50+ industries including current information on the industry environment; how the industry operates; how to analyze a company in this industry; key trends; etc.
IBISWorld
IBISWorld covers over 700 U.S. industries, 60+ global reports, & over 160 industry reports for China. Use to discover industry's product & market segmentation, factors affecting industry, up & down stream sectors, basis of competition, life cycle stage, barriers to entry. Helpful when framing opening statements & open ended questions.

Mergent Intellect This link opens in a new window
Mergent Intellect is a collection of worldwide business information, including private and public U.S and international business data, industry news, facts and figures, executive contact information, the ability to access industry profiles and much more. Use the Mergent Online for company information and the Industry Data tab for industry executive information and questions.
Tutorials:
Quick Search Guide (2:25)
Company Advanced Search (2:33)
Build a File (3:11)
Consumer Lifestyle (2:10)

Abbreviation: mergint
Vendor: Mergent
Subjects: Business, Finance
Type: Datasets / Statistics, Directories

Industry Specific Databases

BCC Research

Gartner Higher Education Reference This link opens in a new window
Abbreviation: gtnr
Vendor: Gartner
Subjects: Business, Information Technology, MIS: Management Information Systems
Type: Datasets / Statistics, E-Journal Collections, Testing / Tutorials
SMA: Sports Market Analytics This link opens in a new window
SMA: Sports Market Analytics combines market research from the largest single research supplier to the industry, the National Sporting Goods Association; the U.S. Department of Commerce; various sports governing bodies; and full-text articles from 14 magazines and newsletters published by VNU, the world's largest sporting goods trade publisher, and newsletters provided by leading independent industry experts. Subjects covered include sporting goods industry, sports sponsorship and marketing, broadcasting, facilities, broadcasting and new media.
Single sport/product search include:
Archery
Backpacking
Badminton
Baseball
Basketball
Bicycling
Billiards
Bowling
Cheerleading
Camping/Hiking Climbing
Equestrian
Exercise/Fitness
Eyewear
Fishing
Footwear
Football
Golf
Gymnastics
Hunting/Shooting
Ice Hockey
Inline Skating
Lacrosse
Martial Arts
Motorsports
Paintball
Rugby
Running/Jogging
Scooter Riding
Skateboarding
Skiing
Snowboarding
Soccer
Softball
Tennis
Volleyball
Water Sports (All)
Winter Sports (All)
Women's Total Market
Wrestling

Abbreviation: sbrnet
Vendor: SBRnet
Subjects: Business, Communication, Marketing, Sport Management, Sport Psychology, Statistics
Type: Datasets / Statistics, Directories, E-Journal Collections, Government Publications

Internet Sites

ThomasNet
ThomasNet allows the researcher to search ThomasNet and locate information on more than 600,000 industrial companies.
Medical Device Link
The directories on Medical Device Link identify worldwide suppliers of materials, components, equipment, and services to manufacturers of medical devices. These suppliers include companies that make finished medical devices on a contract basis for other manufacturers.