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BUS 421, International Marketing: 3. Market Audit

What Do You Need to Look For?

You need to look for the:

  • competitive environment in the country,
  • how you will export your product
  • how you will make your product appealing
  • market size

Passport GMID

Passport GMID offers news, profiles, analysis, reports, and data for industries in the fast-moving consumer goods sectors. It's also a good place to find related demographic and economic data for countries around the world. A search for an industry reveals a variety of types of information:

  • Briefings (global and country) by category or strategy
  • Company profiles
  • Datagraphics
  • Market statistics (market size, company and brand shares, distribution, pricing)
  • Opinion pieces
  • Podcasts and videocasts
  • Product ingredients
  • Topical articles
  • Trade statistics (exports, imports, volume)

To find industry data:

  1. Choose an industry from the drop-down Industries menu [1].
  2. The industry landing page include a dashboard, as well as the most recently-added analysis, news, and research. Choose the type of data you want from the dashboard:
    • Search Tree [2]: Select one option from available categories and sub-categories, then click "Go." On the next screen, you'll be able to select additional categories and sub-categories, as well as specify one or more geographies (world, country, region, or international alliance).
    • Analysis Finder [3]: Choose the type of analysis (default is "all") and one country or region and click "Go." You'll see a list of relevant articles. Filter results by survey topic, type of analysis, or data, or change the geography using the lists provided.
    • Rank Countries [4]: Choose a category or sub-category and rank by size, growth, or per capita. You can choose from historical or forecast data. Click "Go." Presented as a data table.
    • Rank Categories [5]: Choose a geography and rank category by size, growth, or per capita. You can choose from historical or forecast data. Click "Go." Presented as a data table.
    • Review Top Companies [6]: Select a company, then a category, from the lists. Click "Go." You'll be presented with a data table showing company shares by country.
    • Visualise Data [7]: Select a category from the list and click "Go." Data will be overlaid on a world map that you can customize.

 

 

APA Citation Format

References

Euromonitor International. (2015a, June 29). Beer: What's brewing on the horizon? Global briefing. Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal

Euromonitor International. (2015b, June 30). Sales of beer by category: Total volume 2009-2014 [Table]. In Beer in Canada category briefing. Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal

Euromonitor International. (2015c, July 6). The growth in popularity of craft beer in New Zealand [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal

Euromonitor International. (2015d, July 8). Beer in Sweden category briefing. Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal

Telford, H. (2015, June 24). What does craft mean in carbonated soft drinks? Opinion Retrieved from http://www.portal.euromonitor.com/portal

In-Text Citation

(Euromonitor International, 2015c)

(Telford, 2015)

Note:Provide the URL of the publisher's home page (in this case Euromonitor). Do not provide the direct URL to the report, or the name of the database (Passport GMID).

Business Source Complete

Industry profiles from Business Source Complete offer a great deal of data about an industry. A profile will typically include the following:

  • Market Overview
  • Market Data
  • Market Segmentation (by category, geography; market share; market distribution)
  • Market Outlook
  • Five Forces Analysis (buyer power; supplier power; new entrants; threats of substitutes; degree of rivalry)
  • Leading Companies
  • Macroeconomic Indicators (e.g., country data)
  • Industry Associations

Tip: Check the date on the profile - while many are relatively current (within the last year), some are older, particularly in smaller markets, like Canada.

To find a profile:

  1. Enter keywords describing the industry and the term "industry profile" in the search box(es) [1].
  2. Industry profiles are often associated with a specific country or region, but there are also global profiles that look at the industry worldwide [2]  - you probably want to view all that relate to your company's geographic distribution.
  3. Take note of the date [3] - ideally, you want the most current data available, so you may need to look for updated data, if it's available. (Note the source of the data in the report and go directly to the source for updates.)
  4. Click on the "PDF Full Text" [4] link to view the profile.

APA Citation Format

References

MarketLine Industry Profile. (2012a, February). Global Pet Care. Retrieved from http://www.marketline.com/

​MarketLine Industry Profile. (2012b, February). Pet Care in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.marketline.com/

In-Text Citation

(MarketLine Industry Profile, 2012a)

Note: Take the title from the title page of the report, not the listing in the database. Provide the URL of the publisher's home page (in this case Marketline). Do not provide the direct URL to the report, or the name of the database (Business Source Complete).

Industry Profiles

About Industry Profiles

Industry profiles offer an important context for your company's situation. Are the critical issues your company is facing unique to the company, or prevalent within the industry? Are there critical issues faced by your company's competitors that are not an issue for your company? Are there industry trends that are not reflected in your company's strategic directions or reports to investors? Industry profiles will give you a chance to gauge your company's situation against the larger industry.

Where to Find an Industry Profile

How to Find an Industry Profile

Product Reviews

Not all product review sites are created equal, and it's good to treat product reviews with a healthy skepticism. There are essentially two types of review sites:

  • Consumer or customer reviews: these offer reviews based on individual experience with products, and may or may not compare products. Always seek customer reviews from multiple sources and reviewers, so that you get a fuller, more balanced picture.
  • Product testing reviews: these reviews focus on multiple brands in a product category and rate each brand tested using the same criteria and methodology. The best of these sites will explain their criteria or methodology and document any outside sources.

Both types of review sites are valuable. The best strategy is to read multiple reviews from both types of review sites and look for patterns of agreement or disagreement. Here are a few that we can recommend:

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