Guides: Business: Market Information

1. Government/Open Access Sources of Market Information

Statistics Canada: Census Profiles
Search for demographic data for large and small communities. Topics included: Population & dwelling counts, Age, Marital status, Family characteristics, Households, and Language.

Census Geography (Stats Canada)
"Census geography covers a wide range of geographic areas – from provinces and territories down to city blocks. These geographic areas have boundaries, names, and other information that make it possible to locate them on the ground and relate census data to them."

National Household Survey (NHS)
Search by topic: e.g., Aboriginal peoples, Immigration & Ethnocultural diversity, Education & Labour, Mobility & Migration, Income & Housing.

Survey of household spending, dwelling characteristics and household equipment
Household Spending Summary Tables
The Daily (by Statistics Canada)
You can read the Daily in several ways, e.g. “Releases by subject” with 32 subject categories.
Canada Year Book
Data compiled from Statistics Canada sources. Articles provide analysis and graphics.
Stats Canada Publications
Find Stats Can surveys and research papers by title, subject and catalogue number.
Canada Post: Householder counts and maps
"Canada Post's Householder Counts and Maps help Direct Marketers to target their audiences by providing information on the counts of houses, apartments, farms and businesses throughout Canada, along with associated Forward Sortation Area (FSA) and Letter Carrier Walk (LCW) maps."

U.S. Consumer Expediture Survey (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Data on the buying habits of American consumers gathered on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau. It also includes data on consumer incomes and other characteristics. Updated annually.

CIA World Factbook
Spotzi
Spotzi is a Netherlands-based company (with an office in Toronto) that provides marketing data for companies. Their primary product is for-purchase but "sample" searches can be conducted from their homepage.
Invest Ontario

2. Find recent articles in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and scholarly journals

Gather information on consumer behaviour, marketing strategies, or advertising media. Use the library databases to locate articles in newspapers, business magazines, trade journals, or scholarly journals.

A sample search on Consumer behaviour & online shopping: (select Academic Search Ultimate, Business Source Elite, and Regional Business News in EBSCOhost)

A sample search on Marketing strategies to women:

A sample search on Marketing/Advertising to adolescents:

3. Advertising & Mass Media Data:

Fact Books (Magazines Canada website)
Provides links to the most recent Consumer Magazine, Digital Magazine, and Business Media fact books. The Consumer Magazine fact book has data on Canadian industry trends, magazine readership and circulation, ad positioning, and ad effectiveness. The Digital Magazine fact book looks at magazine trends and research from tablets, e-readers, social media and smartphones.
ComScore Insights
Access insights from ComScore, a digital analytics firm, via their blog posts, presentations and whitepapers on global trends in mobile and digital media.

Canada Commons

Through Canada Commons we have access to thousands of Canada-specific documents and resources. Try searching for terms such as "Market Reports" or "consumer*." You can even search for communities by name such as "Ancaster," "Hamilton," or "Brantford."

What product or service should you be selling?

How Do I Come Up With a Winning Business Idea? (SMEToolkit.org)
A "how to" article that reviews three steps for developing a winning business idea: create a vision, determine what you are good at and what you like to do, and figure out what the market needs.
Futurpreneur Canada : Get Inspired
Featured success stories of Canadian entrepreneurs
Fortune Magazine
Plenty of information on the webpage, even if you don't have an online subscription to the magazine.
Canadian Innovation Centre
A national, not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and innovators. The Centre has been providing its expertise to companies of all sizes for over 35 years.
Canadian Business Network
Government of Canada website for entrepreneurs with information about starting, planning, financing, managing, growing a business. Also includes links to necessary government information.
Industry Canada website
Information for businesses, consumers, and forms, reports, guides, etc.
Profit magazine
Canada's premier magazine for entrepreneurs.

Production & Operating Requirements

How Products Are Made
"Explains the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, .... The site provides step by step descriptions of the assembly and the manufacturing process (complemented with illustrations and diagrams)."
How Stuff Works
"An award-winning source of credible, unbiased, and easy to understand explanations of how the world actually works."
Topic categories include: adventure, auto, culture, entertainment, home & garden, money, science, and tech.

Sourcing Equipment & Suppliers

Frasers Directory - Canada's Industrial Search Engine
Consult one of the following trade directories in order to identify companies that manufacture or distribute industrial products and services. Most directories allow you to search by company, product, or brand name, or to browse by category.