Which websites do you use for market research?

Kerwin

Free Member
Dec 1, 2018
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I'm just wondering which websites people use for market research? I'm subscribed to the Financial Times, which gives decent quality articles on my sector, and I read Bloomberg, but I'm always on the lookout for more quality data. I don't mind paying if it is a well-regarded resource.

Which sources do you use when researching market information?
 

fisicx

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Sep 12, 2006
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Still doesn't really help. What are you expecting from this market research? New leads? Customer data? Company targeting?
 
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Kerwin

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Dec 1, 2018
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Still doesn't really help. What are you expecting from this market research? New leads? Customer data? Company targeting?

Sorry. I should have been clearer. I'm trying to come up with a realistic cash flow forecast over the next 12 months and I need historical data to do that to see what growth was like in the sector in the past. I know historical data won't take into account the extraordinary events this year with coronavirus and everything else that has happened this year but when it comes to trying to come up with some decent figures when trying to get a loan it is the best I can do.

So basically I'm trying to get a loan from here:

https://www.startuploans.co.uk/
 
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fisicx

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1- Google : any keywords related to your sector
2- Search on google competatives website typing " link: www.competativewebsite..." it will give you the websites where your competatives are mentioned.
Did you even read their posts?
 
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Kerwin

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Dec 1, 2018
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If you have signed up with Start Up Loans, they should have appointed you with a loan advisor to help with this stuff.

if you haven’t, drop me a line as I am one of those advisors.

I haven't got that far yet. I'm still writing up my business plan and getting all the figures together for all of the different expenses I'll have. It is a bit time consuming as I not only need to do market research on historical data but email multiple companies to get price lists and work out which products I actually need and which ones I don't.

Plus I need to evaluate open-source software against commercial software. I was originally going to go all open source but I've decided I'm going to look at the commercial side of things as well just to make sure I am making the correct decision.

When I do get to that stage I'll let you know though. Thank you for your reply.
 
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It really does sound as if you are completely in the dark about how to start and run a business.

So you've got this idea - now you have to find out if it is viable. Market research starts with understanding the market you are in (or rather trying to be in!) That can take a few years.

Whether it's a corner shop or a manufacturer of tinned beans, you have to be able to live eat and breathe your subject. No exceptions! Rank outsiders tend to remain rank outsiders and consequently fail - it takes effort and learning to enter any field of endeavour.

When you talk to people working in film, nine times out of ten they come from film-making families. The same goes for restaurants, the circus, publishing, the law, music and a thousand other fields.

I was talking to an investment fund manager in LA recently and he had bought $25m of shares for his fund in a dead-beat media-tech company. He called me for advice - I told him that I wouldn't touch them with a long and well-disinfected barge-pole. Why? Because they haven't made one single meaningful innovation for at least 12 years (and they had neither equity nor profits!)

He had been blinded by all the PR BS that came from their 'Investor Relations' department about cloud-this and online-that - all 'jam-tomorrow' statements from the old 'Crapola Organ'. He found some 'ethical investor fund' manager who was even more clueless than he was and dumped the lot at a reasonable profit.

The 'ethical' innocents have since discovered to their cost that Warren Buffett was right when he said "The market, like the Lord, helps those who help themselves. But unlike the Lord, it does not forgive those who know not what they do!"

So it's back-to-basics for you! Read company accounts, big ones and little ones. Spend a few months charting their progress over the past few years. Talk to people in the industry.

And if you hit the link in my signature, you can find a video I did on market research. Good luck!
 
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Kerwin

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Dec 1, 2018
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It really does sound as if you are completely in the dark about how to start and run a business.

So you've got this idea - now you have to find out if it is viable. Market research starts with understanding the market you are in (or rather trying to be in!) That can take a few years.

I'm not entirely sure why you think I'm completely in the dark about how to start and run a business. I've been using cloud computing companies since before Amazon Web Services existed. I've been a programmer for ten years and have a decent knowledge of the sector from a practical and theoretical point of view. I've talked to people and know there is a market out there for my idea but that means nothing in a business plan. I need to have reliable external sources to convey the growth in the market segment I am aiming for. You don't even know what my business idea is and yet you have already written me off. I'm not entirely sure why you think I'm so ignorant. All I'm doing is following the advice on numerous business plan writing websites and books that you need to do market research. Since I'm disabled I can't go and canvas people in the street (and anyway why would you canvas people in the street for a cloud computing idea? Most people wouldn't know what cloud computing even was). I've built a landing page for my business to funnel people to sign up for a newsletter which will be one form of validating the business idea. But that doesn't mean I can't do other market research.
 
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Mr D

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Feb 12, 2017
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I'm not entirely sure why you think I'm completely in the dark about how to start and run a business. I've been using cloud computing companies since before Amazon Web Services existed. I've been a programmer for ten years and have a decent knowledge of the sector from a practical and theoretical point of view. I've talked to people and know there is a market out there for my idea but that means nothing in a business plan. I need to have reliable external sources to convey the growth in the market segment I am aiming for. You don't even know what my business idea is and yet you have already written me off. I'm not entirely sure why you think I'm so ignorant. All I'm doing is following the advice on numerous business plan writing websites and books that you need to do market research. Since I'm disabled I can't go and canvas people in the street (and anyway why would you canvas people in the street for a cloud computing idea? Most people wouldn't know what cloud computing even was). I've built a landing page for my business to funnel people to sign up for a newsletter which will be one form of validating the business idea. But that doesn't mean I can't do other market research.

Until you set up and run a business you are in the dark about setting up and running a business.

Its easy as an employee - you get time off, you get sick pay, your boss has limits on what they can do to you.

Your own business - you can end up working long hours for no money - the admin, the training, the chasing up people.... the boss can be an asshole, you can work late and still have to get up early....
And even longer hours for the money you do get. Not uncommon for a new business owner to work a 7 day week 360 plus days of the year.

Learn what you can by reading and viewing. Then jump in.
Sink or swim - literally.

This is either my 6th or 7th business depends how people are counting. Some have been successful, one failed badly.
In over 20 years of having businesses I'm still finding stuff that I didn't know. Usually by slamming into it at full speed but sometimes picking up stuff from others experiences.

In your case as canvassing people in the street won't work, perhaps canvas people who you would think of as potential customers. Talking to them - a phone or headset works, even a keyboard if using a textphone.
Amongst other things you will need to identify who your customers are going to be to be able to market your services to them so its useful stuff anyway.

Currently its both the worst and best times to set up in business. If you can handle it during virus, recession and brexit then you will know you can handle anything. And the current changes and economic impacts will open up opportunities that would not have been as easy to find a year ago.

Disabled can do a lot when our disabilities get taken out of the picture. You aren't a disabled person with a cloud computing idea, you are a business person with a cloud computing idea. Just some ways we work may be slightly different. :)
 
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I've built a landing page for my business to funnel people to sign up for a newsletter which will be one form of validating the business idea.

You're on the right track - we all know this is a big space, but the real question is why would anyone want to use your service vs the tons of others out there.

This method is one of the quickest ways to validate an idea. This is my go to method to get in front of potential users/customers.

I've done this plenty of times in the SaaS space and recently did it for a physical product for my Amazon FBA venture.

What have you got to lose, a few bob on PPC advertising vs building/selling something nobody wants.
 
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I'm not entirely sure why you think I'm completely in the dark about how to start and run a business. I've been using cloud computing companies since before Amazon Web Services existed. I've been a programmer for ten years and have a decent knowledge of the sector from a practical and theoretical point of view. I've talked to people and know there is a market out there for my idea but that means nothing in a business plan. I need to have reliable external sources to convey the growth in the market segment I am aiming for. You don't even know what my business idea is and yet you have already written me off. I'm not entirely sure why you think I'm so ignorant. All I'm doing is following the advice on numerous business plan writing websites and books that you need to do market research. Since I'm disabled I can't go and canvas people in the street (and anyway why would you canvas people in the street for a cloud computing idea? Most people wouldn't know what cloud computing even was). I've built a landing page for my business to funnel people to sign up for a newsletter which will be one form of validating the business idea. But that doesn't mean I can't do other market research.

I do wonder if you are over-intellectualising things? Basically from market research you need to know

- Who is your target customer
- What solution are they currently using?
- What are their key drivers?
- What are their pain points/price points?
- How do they consume information?

Which boils down to 'why/how are they going to buy from you?'

You can find some growth trends from accounting information, but that can be extremely misleading without a deep insight to how that provider went to market.

On the whole 'ready to run a business' thing. My take goes something like this.

There are 3 facets to running a business

  1. Do what you do. (the job)
  2. Marketing
  3. Other stuff
The norm is for people to commit 100% to 'doing what they do'. (110% if they are tw@ts). Which doesn't leave much time for the rest.

It's quite rare for businesses to fail because they don't do their job well - they typically fail because they don't understand their market, or because they mess up on other stuff. Which is a long and variable list starting with, tax, accounting, insurance, credit control, compliance etc etc...
 
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It's quite rare for businesses to fail because they don't do their job well - they typically fail because they don't understand their market, or because they mess up on other stuff. Which is a long and variable list starting with, tax, accounting, insurance, credit control, compliance etc etc...
THIS - and with knobs on!

I am about to record a video about starting to actually trade and I made a list of mistakes people make and right at the top came 'No market!' i.e. they fall in love with the brilliance of their idea and forget that there actually has to be a real demand for their widget.

And before anyone asks - the best way to find out is to do some test marketing. Nothing convinces investors more than a track record of people de-trousering money for that widget. Magic market surveys are just so much paper and as we say in German - Paper is patient!

Another big mistake is to not budget for marketing. Even if you have built a better mouse-trap, the world will only beat Emmerson's pathway to your door if they know that you are there! That means setting a good sum aside for trade fairs, leafleting, PR efforts and anything and everything besides - and keep doing it over and over again! Remember that the customer buys when they want to buy - not when you want to sell! You must budget for marketing every year, month and week.

But in direct answer to the original question - which websites? - Companies House, plus all the usual company checks sites like companysearchesmadesimple and companycheck and heaven knows how many others. But that's just for starters.
 
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fisicx

Moderator
Sep 12, 2006
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www.aerin.co.uk
I need to have reliable external sources to convey the growth in the market segment I am aiming for.
Why?

Growth figures mean nothing unless you know where on the curve they are. In fact a company may not even be growing but still be very successful. Other companies will have no data because they are only just starting out or focusing on other products of services.

Rather than growth, look at potential clients - even better are those not yet looking for people like you.
 
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Naheed Mir

Free Member
Aug 10, 2020
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What is your sector? Usually when I'm researching for a client i'll be looking for opportunities for an advantage; getting info from the FT et al just ensures you have the same information as everybody else.

It depends upon the industry; you can browse and search for various online research reports. The sites I would recommend are:

  • MarketResearch.com
  • Greenbook
  • MR web
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Market Research Society
  • AllTop
  • Research-Live
  • Entrepreneur
 
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BreezSteez

Free Member
Nov 26, 2020
14
1
USA
The type of market and niche you're looking into would dictate some of the best sources. You could draw from primary sources like Bloomberg and find other articles that resonate with their message, which would tell you how reputable the other writers or outlets might be.
 
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