Industry Research

Industrial classification codes (NAICS & SIC) are used to classify and measure industry activity. Knowing the code for your industry will help you find reports, articles, and other information about that industry.

Steps to take:

• Know the industry classification

• Find overviews of the industry

• Review articles for trends or forecasts

• Gather statistics from government agencies and trade associations

• ​​Look for reported numbers in analyst reports (i.e. number of customers reported by competitors, market share, revenue)
• ​Compile both competitor revenue and number of customers

​A few questions to ask when sizing the market:

• Does the market consist of business (B2B) or consumers (B2C)?
• Does the market organize itself by product, by segment, geography, or other?
• ​What is the total market size (Total Addressable Market - TAM), the portion of TAM which your company's product and/service address (Serviceable Available Market - SAM), and the portion of SAM which your company can capture besides your competitors (Serviceable Obtainable Market - SOM)?

​To get started, you can get familiarized with the target industry and the major players by exploring the Industry Research Guide. You can also conduct market research following the instructions within this guide.

• Google for presentations and white papers.  Use "filetype:ppt" or "filetype:pdf"

• Locate information about an industry or market using a Google search for organizations or associations for example:

  • ​Google "beverage distributor and .org" results will contain the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) or the Brewers Association, etc...