Www.caed.uga.edu Celebrating Rural Georgia Reading the Crystal Ball: How Communities and Businesses Can Conduct Home Grown Market Research Presented by:

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Celebrating Rural Georgia


Reading the Crystal Ball: How Communities and

Businesses Can Conduct Home Grown Market

ResearchPresented by:Sharon P. Kane

Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development &Food Science and Technology

August 22, 2006

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Enhance the DEPTH of Your KnowledgeEnhance the DEPTH of Your Knowledge

•Discover why the right information is important for success in business development

•Explore what questions should be asked

•Prepare a plan to address the questions

•Track where good data sources may be found – many are FREE

•Have a better understanding of your business environment!

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Why is research important?Why is research important?

• Critical component in strategic planning for community business development initiatives

• Essential for business planning purposes – start-up and ongoing

• Helps individual business owners in determining key information about their market or industry

• Provides information to banks or investors - any funding source - for needed capital

• Data to assist in important business decisions – expansion, new product lines, new business recruitment, economic profile

• Provides an understanding of the local economy as well as regional and national economic trends

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What questions should be asked?What questions should be asked?

• Understand community objectives!• What makes your community special?• What do area citizens think about the local

business environment?• Where are critical information gaps?• What limitations are there in seeking this

information? (i.e. cost, time, community objections)

• How complex are these tasks? Should we seek technical assistance in pursuing these objectives?

• What is the expected outcome of receiving this information?

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• Incorporate answers to business/community questions into a plan

• Consider the expected time frame for results

• Make decisions about methods and output; involve technical assistance providers

• Anticipate how findings will be used• Stick to the objectives!

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• Feasibility Study• Economic Impact Study• Market Study• Consumer Opinion Survey• Data Analysis• Focus Groups• In-depth Interviews

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• Basic, yet helpful research tools are publicly available or through technical assistance providers

• Often free or very low cost, so can provide at least a good starting point

• Requires the use of some caution to prevent use of invalid data

Do-It-Yourself

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• Filter – not all data is essential information

• Not every source is valid-”I found it on the Internet”

• Free is not necessarily best, VALUE is the key

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Demographic Information

The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) provides a broad range of data for business uses, including:

County Business PatternsDecennial CensusAmerican Fact FinderEconomic CensusSurvey of Business OwnersStatistics of U.S. Businesses

Resources for ResearchResources for Research

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• Farm Gate Value Report• Georgia County Guide• Community Demographic Profiles• Georgia Statistics System • Industry Economic Impact Series

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http://www.georgiastats.uga.edu/

Median Household Effective Buying Income, 2003


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Georgia by County TM-H027. Median Value of Specified Owner-Occupied Housing Units: 2000 Universe: Specified owner-occupied housing units

Data Set: Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) - Sample Data

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en


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Purchasing Power Profile

ZIP Code 30043

Consumer Expenditure Category

Est. AnnualExpenditures

Expeditures/ Square Mile

Food at Home $93,772,437 $2,874,692

Food away from home $38,123,988 $1,168,730

Apparel and related services $36,885,522 $1,130,764

Television equipment, tapes disks $13,951,073 $427,685

Audio equipment, CDs, tapes $4,200,377 $128,767

Household textiles $2,576,174 $78,975

Furniture $12,607,894 $386,508

Floor coverings $1,321,601 $40,515

Major appliances $5,022,013 $153,955

Small appliances and housewares $1,616,778 $49,564

Computer hardware and software $4,817,655 $147,690

Miscellaneous household equipment $8,423,170 $258,221

Non-prescription drugs and supplies $6,566,155 $201,292

Housekeeping supplies $13,516,721 $414,369

Personal products $7,662,331 $234,897

Home repair commodities $3,083,443 $94,526

Total for 16 categories $254,147,332 $7,791,151

Source: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute, 2004. The analysis is based on 2002 Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Surveys and 2000 U.S. Census data.

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Free Purchasing Power Profiles and Workforce Density Data for All Census

Tracts and Residential ZIP Codes in U.S.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute provides comparison data on purchasing power, business activity, and workforce density for all census tracts, residential ZIP codes, and the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. The profiles are designed to help cities, companies, developers, small business owners, and community organizations assess the advantages of urban density for underserved city neighborhoods.

http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/ETI/PurchasingPower/purchasing.htm


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FedFITFederal Reserve Fiscal Impact ToolFedFITFederal Reserve Fiscal Impact Tool

• FIT is easy-to-use software designed to help community and economic developers estimate the likely effects of a specific economic development project.

• FIT is intended for community and economic development professionals, primarily in small and mid-size communities.

• FIT does not purport to give a single “right” answer but seeks only to present a rough picture of the likely impact.

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Your technical assistance provider has data with exclusive access


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http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2005/sbo_women_map.pdf

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• Private companies sell information that they collect

Specific industriesCustomized compilationsBusiness informationGIS Technology

• Examples includeClaritasESRIDun & Bradstreet


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Woods & Poole Economics/State Profile DataWoods & Poole Economics/State Profile Data

• Contains annual data from 1969 through 2030 for the U.S. and Georgia counties, and metropolitan and micropolitan areas as defined by the Office of Management and Budget.

• It includes variable such as population, employment, earnings, per capita income, retail sales per-household, number of households by income categories and total retail sales for selected categories.

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RESOURCE– Dollars and Cents of Shopping

Centers (2004)Includes comprehensive income and

expense data for shopping centers and tenants organized by center type and region


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RESOURCEReferenceUSA

Available databases:

The business database contains detailed information on 13 million businesses in the U.S.

The residential database contains information on 120 million households in the U.S.--mostly addresses and telephone numbers.

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RESOURCE

Retail Tenant Directory (book, CD-Rom, Online formats) www.retailtenants.com; www.PlainVanillaShell.com

This publication contains in-depth profiles of over 5,400 retail chains across the U.S.

Purchase prices:Book: $399CD-ROM: $1345Online: $995 (one user)

http://www.retailtenants.com/



http://www.plainvanillashell.com/

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Contact Info:Sharon P. Kane, Food Business Development Specialist

The University of Georgia240-B Food Science Building

Athens, Georgia 30602Office: 706-542-2574

E-mail: [email protected]

Documents

Www.caed.uga.edu Celebrating Rural Georgia Reading the Crystal Ball: How Communities and Businesses Can Conduct Home Grown Market Research Presented by: