The purpose of this publication is to provide you with a starting point to finding resources in market research.
- Reference sources
- Trade journals
- Databases
- Internet resources
- Obtaining reports not held by QUT Library
- Related guides
Reference sources
Reference sources are a good starting point for any assignment topic. They help to clarify concepts and keywords and provide introductory overviews to topics. They include online or hardcopy dictionaries, encyclopedias, directories, handbooks, manuals, etc. Some are in the hardcopy 'Reference' collection and are not available for loan, but can instead be used in the library.
| Title | Call number | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Market share reporter 2005 | 338.7025 4 Gardens Point Reference |
Contains world market share data as well as companies, products and services rankings. This comprehensive book has over 1600 entries and covers hundreds of geographic locations. |
| Global market share planner | 338.7025 3 /3 Gardens Point Reference |
Contains information on the performance, activities and positioning of the top national and international consumer brand owning companies in key consumer market sectors (drinks, food, household and personal care) across 52 countries. |
| Consumer Asia 2004 | 339.47095 1 /11 Gardens Point Reference |
Contains information on more than 330 consumer markets, from food, to cosmetics and toiletries, to IT and telecommunications. This resource also provides an overview of Asia's economy and market, as well as regional marketing parameters. |
| Consumer China 2004 | 339.470951 2 /10 Gardens Point Reference |
Contains volume and value market size data on more than 330 consumer markets, from food, to cosmetics and toiletries, to IT and telecommunications. This resource also provides an overview of China's economy and market, as well as socioeconomic parameters. |
| Consumer Europe 2004/2005 | 381.094 1 /20 Gardens Point Reference |
Contains market size data for more than 330 consumer products. This resource covers 17 European countries and its coverage spans from 1998 - 2003. Also looks at socioeconomic parameters. |
| Retail trade international 2001 |
381.1021 2 /12 Gardens Point Reference |
This eight volume resource provides extensive coverage of the retailing industry in 52 countries. It provides market data and market analysis by country and on a global level. |
| Retail world's Australasian grocery guide | 381.456413025 1 /16 Gardens Point Reference |
A reference source to the Australasian grocery industry. This book contains: information about grocery suppliers and vendors to the industry; retailer and brand market share information; and product and brand ownership details. |
| European marketing data and statistics 2004 | 658.8094021 1 /39 Gardens Point Reference |
Includes demographic, lifestyle and economic information for more than 40 European countries. Covers the following data types: Advertising and Media; Agricultural Resources; Automotive; Banking and Finance; Communications; Consumer Expenditure; Consumer Market Sizes; Consumer Prices and Costs; Cultural Indicators; Economic Indicators; Energy Resources and Output; Environmental Data; External Trade; Health and Living Standards; Household Characteristics; Income and Earnings; Industrial Resources and Output; Labour Force Indicators; Literacy and Education; Population; Retail Distribution; Transport; Travel and Tourism. |
| World consumer lifestyles databook 2003 | 658.8342 124 /2 Gardens Point Reference |
A sourcebook for information on consumers and their lifestyles. Contains data on: Population; Health and living standards; Home ownership; Household profiles; Labour; Income and earnings; Savings and investments; Consumer and family expenditure; Education; Eating habits; Drinking habits; Smoking habits; Leisure habits; Personal care; Media; Communications; Transport; Tourism; Crime. |
| International marketing data and statistics 2004 | 658.848 75 /28 Gardens Point Reference |
Includes demographic, lifestyle and economic information for more than 160 non-European countries, including the USA, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. Covers the following data types: Advertising and Media; Agricultural Resources; Automotive; Banking and Finance; Communications; Consumer Expenditure; Consumer Market Sizes; Consumer Prices and Costs; Cultural Indicators; Economic Indicators; Energy Resources and Output; Environmental Data; External Trade; Health and Living Standards; Household Characteristics; Income and Earnings; Industrial Resources and Output; Labour Force Indicators; Literacy and Education; Population; Retail Distribution; Transport; Travel and Tourism. |
Trade journals
Trade journals are periodicals which focus on specific industries. They can be used to obtain current information on an industry, as well as on individual companies within that industry.
Due to the masses of information indexed in databases, it may be beneficial to browse publications specific to your industry. A list of selected trade journals follows:
| Title | Call number | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Biotechnology News (AUS) | Electronic Resource | A daily email news service and weekly magazine dedicated to the commercialisation of the life sciences and to the convergence of information and biotechnology. |
| Aviation Week & Space Technology (US) | Electronic resource 629.13 21 Gardens Point Periodical |
Provides current news and information related to the aviation and aerospace industry. The annual forecast issue is usually published in mid-March. |
| Billboard (US) | Electronic Resource | Keeps music and video retailers, radio programmers, and music fans up to date on what the public is buying. |
| Chemical and Engineering News (US) | Electronic resource 660 111 Gardens Point Periodical |
C&EN Online is a weekly magazine published by the American Chemical Society. It primarily serves the chemical, life sciences and laboratory industries. |
| Chemistry & Industry (UK) | Electronic resource 660 107 Gardens Point Periodical |
Offers a mix of news, reviews, features and research highlights. |
| Physics Today (US) | Electronic Resource 530 2 Gardens Point Periodical |
Contains peer reviewed articles of interest to both professional physicists and those with a general interest in physics. Subject areas covered include physics, astronomy, astrophysics, geology, aeronautics and general science. |
| Physics World (UK) | Electronic Resource | Selected articles from the journal Physics World are published in full at physicsweb.org every month, along with summaries of other articles. |
| Retail World (AUS) | 381.10994 3 Gardens Point Periodical |
Provides up-to-date information on happenings in the trade, market size and trends, grocery industry news and developments as well as consumer and business trends. |
| Screen Digest (UK) | 791.4 31 Kelvin Grove Periodical |
Summaries of world news in film, television, video, satellite, multimedia and consumer electronics with statistical surveys and research data. |
Databases
The Library Catalogue will allow you to search for journals by publication title, but not for titles of journal articles. Instead, the journal databases will help you to locate and retrieve fulltext, abstracts and references to journal articles.
Journal databases are both finding aids and collections of sources. They may be citation only, or fulltext, and usually a mix of both. If you find a citation without the full text, It may be available elsewhere. You would then do a Journal title search via the library catalogue, using the Title of the Journal (NOT the title of the article). Using the citation as a guide to navigate, the library catalogue will link to electronic access and/or locate the print holding available to QUT.
QUT staff and students can access the databases from within QUT libraries or remotely from your School, home or office via the Internet. Most databases require your QUT username and password. Access is available from the Databases page.
A selection of databases related to market research are listed below:
| Database | Description |
|---|---|
| Snapshots Asia Pacific (via ProQuest) | Provides information on market size, market segmentation, market share, market distribution, market forecasts, socio-economic data and further sources for selected industries in the Asia-Pacific region. Industries include: Automotive, Energy and utilities, Financial services, Healthcare, Hospitality, IT and telecom, Industrial Materials, Media, Medical devices & equipment, Paper & paper products, Retail & Transport. View a sample report. |
| ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) | ABS provides access to a vast amount of statistics and data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It provides access to the full ABS product range including all publications from 1998 onwards. Contains demographic and other data collected as part of the census, as well as reports on markets and industries. |
| Factiva.com Note: Allows a maximum of 5 simultaneous users. |
Factiva.com is an interdisciplinary news, current affairs and research database providing access to nearly 8000 publications, including local and international newspapers, newswires, magazines and journal sources. Extensive company information is provided, including financial data for more than 42,500 worldwide companies (from Reuters Investor) as well as access to historical market data and interactive charting. Industry specific news headlines are available under the News Pages tab. |
| ABI/Inform Global | Indexes approximately 1,300 business and marketing periodicals from around the world. It also contains the complete fulltext and/or page images of selected articles from over 700 major publications. Indexes numerous trade journals for different industries, as well as scholarly and peer reviewed sources. |
| Business Source Elite | A key source for business research. Contains full text articles for 800 journals as well as abstracting and indexing for around 1500 journals. |
| Business & Industry via FirstSearch Note: access to postgraduate students and staff only. |
Contains facts, figures and key events for international public and private companies, industries, products, and markets for manufacturing and service industries. Covers 1679 titles in primary business information sources from leading trade magazines, newsletters and the general business press to international business dailies. |
| WARC (World Advertising Research Center) | This database is a source of intelligence for the marketing, advertising, media and research communities worldwide. Information is gathered from more than 30 international sources and provides users with access to over 25,000 articles, case studies, research reports and summaries, augmented with best practice papers, practical guides, daily news, email bulletins and statistical data. |
Internet resources
The Internet provides access to a large range of resources in the market research area. However, the quality of the resources varies, and as part of your research process, you will need to evaluate each resource. There are guidelines for evaluating information which can help you with the evaluation process.
A selection of authoritative Internet resources related to market research are listed below:
| Internet Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Provides company and product information for Australian and international companies. | |
| Productivity Commission Reports http://www.pc.gov.au/commission/annualreports |
Government program which undertakes research on industry or productivity matters for the treasurer and sometimes non-government bodies. |
| ABARE http://www.abare.gov.au/ |
ABARE, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, is an Australian government research agency which provides economic analysis of Australia’s agricultural, minerals, fisheries, forestry and energy industries. |
The following resources can be searched to identify market research reports held by the library or available for purchase or via Document delivery.
| Internet Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Datamonitor http://www.datamonitor.com |
Publications by this organisation held by the library can be found via this link to the QUT catalogue. The Datamonitor website provides summaries of reports available for purchase. Datamonitor compiles business intelligence reports for the following industries: automotive; consumer products; energy and utilities; financial services; food, beverage and tobacco; pharmaceuticals and healthcare; technology; transport and logistics. |
| Mintel http://www.mintel.com/ |
Supplier of competitive media, product and consumer intelligence. Mintel Reports (market intelligence reports), GNPD (global new products database) and other Mintel products are available from the website. |
| Frost & Sullivan http://www.frost.com/ |
'Professional portals' provide gateways to information on markets, industries, and regions. Some content (including market overview and size data) is available free of charge. |
| MarketResearch.com http://www.marketresearch.com |
An aggregator of global business intelligence. Provides abstracts and prices for numerous reports on various industries and markets. |
| IBISWorld http://www.ibisworld.com.au |
Reports by this organisation held by the library can be found via this link to the QUT catalogue. Via the website there are analytical industry reports on 500 Australian industries as well as 17 industry sector overviews. Chapters are available for purchase for a minimal cost. Also a valuable source for company information, with reports available for the top 2000 companies in Australia, based on total revenue. |
| Nerac http://www.nerac.com |
Nerac maintains databases of technology, science, patent and business information. These databases index published literature (such as journal articles), full-image patents, conference papers, news and press releases, market research, theses and manuscripts, statistics and demographics, experts and consultants, answers to regulatory and legislative questions, and US trademarks. These databases form part of a subscription service, however abstracts and citations are available free of charge. |
Obtaining reports not held by QUT Library
There are several options for obtaining market research reports not held by QUT Library:
- Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan
- Purchase using Library funds
- Purchase using School funds (School Document Requisition)
- Purchase directly from the supplier/publisher
Use personal funds, grant money or research project funds to obtain the report directly from the supplier/publisher.
The Library will endeavor to obtain a copy of reports or desktop-deliver report sections for you in most circumstances. Consider there will be some delay and evaluate how useful the report would be and only request it if it is directly relevant to your research.
| Staff, Gold Pass holders, PhD, EdD and Masters students | Use the online request forms at Document delivery |
| Other Students | Require written authorization from their supervising lecturer and should use the Interlibrary Loan Request form. This form is also available from the Loans Desk of your campus Library. |
Contact your Liaison Librarian and discuss your purchase request with them. Note: The Library has limited funds for purchase of research resources and the success of this option will depend on the research funding available. If the library is able to purchase the report, it will be retained in the library's collection.
Request a form from your Liaison Librarian and then fill in the details of what you want and supply a School Fund Code for charging back the purchase. The Library will process the request and obtain it for you. This is generally a slightly slower option, as the purchase must be made through standard purchasing systems. The report will then be retained by the School.