Subject Guides: Business: Marketing: Consumer Research

Primary Research Data Sources

Census Business Builder: Small Business Edition - 2.3 - You can view the interactive map or create a report based on your industry and business locations. Try searching your town or city first. If it provides limited data, try county or state.

Census Data and US Census Data Demographic and Housing Estimates are both good sources of demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Consumer Expenditure Surveys (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program, which consists of two surveys, the Quarterly Interview Survey and the Diary Survey, provides information on the buying habits of American consumers. The raw data is here, along with summary reports.

Ebooks

RKMA Market Research Handbooks
RKMA Market Research Handbooks give extensive statistical analysis on many different market sectors, such as B2B Marketing, Entertainment, and Travel.

Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand by New Strategist Publication
"Best Customers" provides detailed analyses of the buying patterns of various age segments in American society.

Consumer Research Databases

Mintel Academic
Mintel publishes over 220 marketing reports in the US every year. Reports include data such as answers to consumer survey questions to identify key demographics or target markets; a comprehensive overview of the market size, including a five year forecast; and brand share, category trends, consumer attitudes and behaviors, and analysis on what’s working, what’s not working, and what’s coming next.
Statista
Statista has data from thousands of different sources on many different topics, including marketing data. Its qualitative data is shown graphically through graphs and charts.