Here are a few important notes to help you make sure that you are getting what you need and want.
2. Research Content
Marketing Research Profiles develop completely different and specific information for each of the more than 16,000 lines of business we report on. In our Financial Analysis series, liability items, net worth, income statement and all financial ratios are also completely differentiated for each industry segment.
Marketing Research Profiles provide deep, broad levels on industry segment trends, but do not include the balance sheet, income statement or financial ratio data presented in the Financial Analysis series. Both series present aggregated statistical analysis – not lists of individual firms, or individual firm data.
Because of the extraordinary depth of our report series (over 2,500,000 reports at the local and national levels) some reports cover industry classifications containing a small number of firms. In every case, you are able to view the number of firms in the pool analyzed before purchase. Before choosing a segment, consider the trade-off between more specific industry segments (fewer firms in the analyzed pool) and larger pools of firms that minimize statistical distortions.
3. Industry Segment Selection
Larger data pools tend to increase accuracy by smoothing out statistical distortions. As a result there is a trade-off between choosing small, highly specific industry segments and larger, more general industry classifications. Please consider this trade-off carefully when making your selections. We always recommend choosing a segment which analyzes at least 25 firms, and preferably more, consistent with the need for industry detail.
Industry profiles are based on firms which report themselves as primarily engaged in a particular business segment. Each firm has only one primary business. Profiles for a particular segment will not include data from firms for which a particular product or segment is a secondary line. For example, the sales of baby strollers in general department stores will not be covered in our Marketing Research Profile on juvenile furniture retail, which will analyze those firms which list themselves as primarily in that line of business.
