All sections are set up to allow for the fill-in of information. Anywhere the text is italic, would be where
you would put in the information pertaining to the individual assignment (and un-italicize).
Market Research Package
Target Market Analysis
Company’s Target Consumer:
Identify the target market or typical customer as described by the client in the questionnaire. Obtain a
clear image of the target and briefly, concisely, but specifically describe the target. Use bullet points or
tables.
Market Demographics of City, State [or other defined parameter, i.e. other geographic area
or characteristic]
This information can be found on the Demographics Now database.
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Go to www.library.ucf.edu
Log in (not necessary if you are on campus)
Click “Databases A-Z”
Click “D”
Find “Demographics Now Library Edition”, click on the second listing (the second “Demographics
Now” listed is more comprehensive)
6. Click “Looking for Demographics” at bottom right of homepage
7. After clicking “Looking for Demographics”, tables will be produced that represent the entire
U.S. population.
8. To narrow down the geographic area, click on the “Geographic Selection” dropdown box to
either create a custom location by either entering a latitude and longitude, or selecting a
location on a map.
9. Alternatively, you may “Pick from Geography List” to narrow down the geographic area by
county, state, CBSA, zip code, etc.
10. If you need to analyze the demographics for a specific area (i.e. a 5 mile radius, or a 15 minute
drive time), it is best to use the “Geography Selection” option to narrow down the results to the
most applicable geographic area.
11. To access the “Geographic Selection” tool, click the “Start Now” icon located under “Looking to
Map a Selection?”
12. At the top left of the screen, there is a drop-down box titled “Geography Selection”, under
“Other Options”, click “Create Custom Location”.
13. A “Create Custom Location” window will pop up with a drop-down menu that provides you the
option to “Enter an Address”, “Enter Coordinates” or “Click on a Map”. Select the desired
option. If you select “Enter an Address” or “Enter Coordinates”, a text box will appear to input
the information.
14. Enter the information and click “Add Point”. Click “OK” at the bottom of the pop-up screen. Your
location will now be marked on the map. If you choose to use the “Click on a Map” function,
simply follow the directions.
15. At the top left of the map screen, you will see the “Geographic Selection” drop-down box, which
will have the address/coordinates/point name of the geographic center.
16. Underneath the drop-down menu is a “Ranges” text box and another drop-down menu with the
choices “Miles”, “Kilometers”, and “Minutes (Drivetime). Select the desired radius
measurement.
17. The textbox can be filled in as desired. Suppose that “Knight’s Restaurant” is considering
opening a location on campus at the University of Central Florida and would like to know the
demographics within 5 miles of UCF (A quick Google search will display the address/GPS
coordinates of the University, or you can select it using the “Click on a Map” option).
18. In the textbox, enter 5 (or whatever the desired numeric range is).
19. On the drop-down menu, select “Miles” (or whatever the desired unit of measurement is).
20. Your map will now display a 5 mile radius, with the University of Central Florida as the center.
21. At the top center of the screen are tabs labeled “Home”, “Demographics”, “Maps”, and “2010
Census and More”. Click “Demographics”.
22. Now the demographic information displayed will be for the geographic area you have selected
23. After selecting the desired geographic area, select the appropriate report type, located at the
top center of the screen. The “Demographic Detail Comparison” report will display most of the
information needed for this section.
24. The “Consumer Expenditure Comparison” will provide you with the information you need for
the “Consumer Spending” section of the report.
Many times the target market can’t be as easily defined as in the scenario above. In examples such as
tangible goods, it may be beneficial to research the various retailers and wholesalers that may distribute
a client’s product to determine the market potential. Other methods of determining target
market/demographics include concluding how much governments spend on particular products/services
or looking at competitors’ products and how they are being distributed, and to whom.
Figure 1: Population Numbers
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
List population numbers. Include overall numbers and any applicable specific numbers. Provide this
information in table format, using Microsoft Word or Excel.
Figure 2: Age/Generation
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
List the dispersion of age groups and/or generations. Provide this information in table format, using
Microsoft Word or Excel.
Figure 3: Race/Ethnicity
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
List the distribution of races and/or ethnicities. Provide this information in table format, using Microsoft
Word or Excel.
Figure 4: Socio-Economic Levels
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
List the distribution of socio-economic levels. Provide this information in table format, using Microsoft
Word or Excel.
Figure 5: Marital Statuses
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
List the distribution of marital statuses. Provide this information in table format, using Microsoft Word
or Excel.
Figure 6: Household Size and Structure
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
List the distribution of household/family sizes. List the distribution of different family/household
structures. Provide this information in table format, using Microsoft Word or Excel.
Figure 7: Education Levels
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
List the distribution of education levels. Provide this information in table format, using Microsoft Word
or Excel.
Figure 8: Occupations
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
List the distribution of occupation categories. Provide this information in table format, using Microsoft
Word or Excel.
Figure 9: Consumer Spending
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
Identify the consumer spending data for the region. Specify on any more detailed level as necessary.
Provide this information in table format, using Microsoft Word or Excel.
Preferences of the Target Market:
Identify the preferences the target market has if available. Provide any available consumer survey
results. Provide this information in table format, using Microsoft Word or Excel.
An excellent place to begin your research is Mintel. Use the following steps to access the Mintel
Database:
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Go to www.library.ucf.edu
Log in (not necessary if you are on campus)
Click on “Databases A-Z”
Click on “M”
Scroll down the page until you find the database labeled “Mintel Current”
Click on “Mintel Current” to be redirected to the Mintel Homepage
Read the Conditions of Use, and click “I Agree” to begin login
You must create a login to access the database
Click on the “Create Profile” icon located in the middle right of the page
Enter the Email address you would like associated with your Mintel account
Enter your name
Choose a password (remember, or better yet, write down this information)
Click “Create Profile” and you will be brought to the Mintel User Homepage
Enter the industry or characteristic into the search box at the top right of the page. For
researching the characteristics of restaurant patrons, enter “restaurant” into the search box.
15. Several search results are produced, click on the result that best matches your requirements. In
this instance, the report labeled “American Families and Dining Out” is the most applicable
result.
16. You will be brought to the first page of the Mintel report “American Families and Dining Out”.
Most of this information will be useful and can help in your analysis, but for the purpose of this
report, the most beneficial information can be found in the section labeled “View Tables”
17. On the left side of the ““American Families and Dining Out”” report is the table of contents; you
can use this feature to navigate the report. Near the top of the “Contents” you will find the
section labeled “View Tables”, click on this to access statistical tables from this report.
18. Select the tables that you find most important and critical for the client to have, you may enter
them into this document using the “Insert Table” function in Microsoft Word and constructing
the appropriate sized table, or you may download a table into Microsoft Excel by clicking on the
“download into spreadsheet” link. You will be asked to open or save the file, which you can then
insert into this Microsoft Word document.
19. To download all tables into CSV, Excel, or Open Office, there are links at the top right of the
webpage. Click on “Download CSV”, “Download Excel 2003”, or “Download Open Office” to
access all the tables in the report in the selected format.
Alternatively, you may use other resources, (Google, Yahoo etc.) to search for consumer surveys and/or
consumer preferences for coffee consumers in the U.S., or, the target market for the client.
Helpful information may also be found by accessing articles published in trade journals and other
business publications that can be accessed via the University of Central Florida library.
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Go to www.library.ucf.edu
Log in (not necessary if you are on campus)
Under “Find”, click “Articles and Databases”
Under “Business and Hospitality”, click “Business”
There will be links to several websites, each with different formats and specialties. Many of
these websites will contain good information, but the best place to start (after searching
Mintel), are the websites listed under “Marketing Data”, such as the “Business & Company
Resource Center”
and “Marketline Advantage”. Other good sources to begin your research are “ABI/INFORM
Complete” and “General BusinessFile ASAP”. Some of these sources may only lead to abstracts,
however, it may provide you with the information you will need (article title, author, date, etc.)
to search for the specific article through search engines such as Google.
6. Cautionary Note: Be sure you pay attention to the release date of the articles/surveys. Avoid
using outdated information, especially in industries that are constantly evolving due to
laws/regulations, changes in technology, and economic factors.
Figure 1: Name
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
Figure 2: Name
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
Figure 3: Name
Table
Source: Source
Brief explanation if necessary.
Product Mix
Describe the segmentation of the industry’s products/services offerings. Provide a brief explanation on
why the segmentation is the way it is. Use the IBISWorld Industry Report for this information.
In the IBISWorld Industry Report, section “Products & Markets”, subsection “Products & Services”, there
will be a pie chart displaying the product and services segmentation of the industry. Insert this chart
below and list the Product Category and appropriate percentages.
Product Mix by Percentage of Sales:
Graph Here:


Product Category: ###%
Product Category: ###%
Analysis
If necessary, summarize and analyze the information provided in the IBISWorld Industry Report.
Source: IBISWorld
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Provide graph from Datamonitor report. Enter in the numbers from the graph into the left column
below. If Datamonitor does not provide this report (as in many situations), use other library resources
such IBIS World, ABI/INFORM Complete, Business Source Premier and General BusinessFile ASAP,
coupled with your knowledge of Porter’s Five Forces, to do a best estimate of the Bargaining Power of
Buyers. Michael Porter’s books “How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy”, “Competitive Strategy”, and
“Competitive Advantage” are all great resources to help in filling out this section.
To search Marketline Advantage for the Five Forces Analysis:
1. Go to www.libarary.ucf.edu
2. Log in to utilize the library resources (not necessary if you are on campus)
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Under “Find”, click “Articles and Databases”
Under “Business and Hospitality”, click “Business”
Scroll down to “Marketing Data”
Click the link for “Marketline Advantage”
You will be taken to the Marketline Advantage home page. You can search for a company or
industry by selecting the desired category from the drop-down menu and entering in the
desired search term
Choose “Industry” as your category, and enter your search term
Entering the search term of “Restaurant” returns thousands of results, to narrow your
search results, use the tabs on the right side of the webpage to refine your search
You can narrow your results significantly by clicking “North America” under the “By
Geography” option
Search through the dozens of remaining results to find the most appropriate industry report
In this example, “United States- Profit Foodservice” is the most relevant search result.
Clicking the title of the report will direct you to the report homepage.
On the side navigation tabs, you may see a section labeled “Five Forces Analysis”. This will
provide you with the necessary information to complete this section of the report
Key: 1 = Low; 5 = High
Score
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Parameter
Backwards Integration: If buyers (particularly in business to business selling)
possess a credible backwards integration threat, their bargaining power
increases. These buyers can threaten to buy producing firms or rivals.
Buyer Independence: If the buyer does not need the firm to provide them with
the product they are seeking, and if the buyer can go to another firm in the
industry to obtain the same product, the buyer is considered independent, and
the bargaining power of the buyer increases.
Buyer Size: If buyers are fragmented—where there are many, small buyers—no
buyer has any particular influence on products or prices. When the buyers are
small and numerous, their bargaining power decreases. Alternatively, if buyers
are concentrated—few buyers but with significant market share—their
bargaining power increases.
Financial Muscle: If the buyer has considerable financial influence, the
bargaining power of the buyer increases. This can be the financial strength of
the individual buyer, or the strength of the market as a whole.
Low-Cost Switching: If the switching costs are not significant, buyer bargaining
power increases. When there are significant switching costs, the products are
generally not standardized and the buyer cannot easily switch to another
product.
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Oligopoly Threat: An oligopoly is a market form in which the number of buyers
is small (and are often individually large and powerful) while the number of
sellers in theory could be large. Because the buyers have the advantage of
being able to play one firm against another, the bargaining power of buyers
increases.
Price Sensitivity: When buyers are highly price sensitive, they tend to purchase
only from those firms who can provide the lowest price. This increases
bargaining power, as in order to keep the business of these buyers, firms must
compete intensely on price.
Product Dispensability: When the product a firm sells to the buyers is not a
necessity for the buyers, the bargaining power of buyers increases. If the
product is not vital to the buyers, they have the choice to go without it if the
firm does not meet their demands.
Tendency to Switch: As with the low cost of switching, a high tendency for
buyers to switch leads to an increase in bargaining power. The ability to go from
one firm to another gives the buyer power of choice.
Undifferentiated Product: When a product is standardized, the buyer can easily
obtain the product from any firm, increasing the bargaining power of buyers.
Source: MarketLine/DataMonitor, Quick MBA & Purdue University Agriculture Innovation &
Commercialization Center
Analysis: Conclude the bargaining power and provide a brief analysis of the above.
If you were able to find this information through Datamonitor, there will be a short explanation and
analysis covering the topic. Otherwise, use your own knowledge and resources to explain the rating you
have provided.