Market research, you're my hero!

Market research is amazing. Why? Because it is so strange. There's marketing info out there on everything. Everything. Who collects this stuff? Generally companies and governments are the places where the market research comes from (and goes to). The big player in market research is (of course) Market Research.com. This company lives to get data and put it together in palatable formats. And these reports are expensive. Just take a look at the price listed for the 2003-2008 World Outlook for Child-Oriented Mini Pizzas, Pizza Squares, and Pizza Novelties. (Did you even know that there was such a thing as child-oriented mini pizzas?) That $795 price tag is not a typo.

So what can you do if you need market research and you don't have a connection? Remember, governments also collect this type of data. In the U.S., that means it should be available to the public, for free. Take a look at the Market Research Library on the U.S. Commercial Service site.

Trade associations are another great place to find free info. They're promoting an industry so they'll have great data to share. For example, take a look at the Pet Food Institute. This site has a section just for researchers and media. You know what that means? That's right, data!

Now let's go back to pizza for just a moment. I did a Google search on "pizza industry" (w/o quotes) and I found this trade publication, Pizza Today. I found some interesting industry news here. There isn't much hard data, but there is some trending info within this industry, which can also be very helpful.

The thing to remember about market research is this-it's out there. Somewhere.

Personal debt burdens by state

I saw a piece on personal debt burden rankings by state on the news this morning. I then heard about it again on Docuticker, a great blog that focuses on reports from government agencies, ngo's, think tanks, and other similar organizations. This data got my attention because I live in the city with the highest debt burden per person-Seattle. Good old Rain City tops the list at $26,646 per person. Perhaps a good new slogan for the city could be "Seattle, We're Spendy".


As with all data, it's important to know where it comes from. This particular list is drawn from a consumer credit database owned by Experian Information Solutions. According to Hoover's Online (premium subscription, you may not see this in the free version), the are a global credit reporting company. Their databases contains 215 consumers and 15 million businesses.

In case you wanted another look at how much Americans owe, take a look at the U.S. National Debt Clock: Real Time.