Celebrating Rural Georgia
Reading the Crystal Ball: How
Communities and Businesses Can
Conduct Home Grown Market
Research
Presented by:
Sharon P. Kane
Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development &
Food Science and Technology
August 22, 2006
www.caed.uga.edu
Celebrating Rural Georgia
www.caed.uga.edu
Enhance the DEPTH of Your Knowledge
• Discover why the right information is
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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!
www.caed.uga.edu
Why is research important?
• Critical component in strategic planning for
community business development initiatives
• Essential for business planning purposes – startup 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
www.caed.uga.edu
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?
www.caed.uga.edu
Tips for Planning
• 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!
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
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Feasibility Study
Economic Impact Study
Market Study
Consumer Opinion Survey
Data Analysis
Focus Groups
In-depth Interviews
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
Do-It-Yourself
• 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
www.caed.uga.edu
Points to Remember
• 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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Resources for Research
Demographic Information
The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov)
provides a broad range of data for business
uses, including:
County Business Patterns
Decennial Census
American Fact Finder
Economic Census
Survey of Business Owners
Statistics of U.S. Businesses
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
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Farm Gate Value Report
Georgia County Guide
Community Demographic Profiles
Georgia Statistics System
Industry Economic Impact Series
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
Median Household Effective Buying Income, 2003
http://www.georgiastats.uga.edu/
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
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
www.caed.uga.edu
Purchasing Power Profile
ZIP Code 30043
Consumer Expenditure Category
Est. Annual
Expenditures
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
$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
$13,516,721
$414,369
Personal products
$7,662,331
$234,897
Home repair commodities
$3,083,443
$94,526
$254,147,332
$7,791,151
Furniture
Housekeeping supplies
Total for 16 categories
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.
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
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
www.caed.uga.edu
FedFIT
Federal 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.
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
Your technical assistance provider has data
with exclusive access
www.caed.uga.edu
Value of National Trends
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2005/sbo_women_map.pdf
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
• Private companies sell
information that they collect
Specific industries
Customized compilations
Business information
GIS Technology
• Examples include
Claritas
ESRI
Dun & Bradstreet
www.caed.uga.edu
Woods & 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.
www.caed.uga.edu
www.caed.uga.edu
Resources for Research
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
www.caed.uga.edu
www.caed.uga.edu
REFERENCE USA
RESOURCE
ReferenceUSA
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.
www.caed.uga.edu
www.caed.uga.edu
TRADE DIMENSIONS
www.tradedimensions.com
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: $399
CD-ROM: $1345
Online: $995 (one user)
www.caed.uga.edu
www.caed.uga.edu
Questions?
Contact Info:
Sharon P. Kane, Food Business Development Specialist
The University of Georgia
240-B Food Science Building
Athens, Georgia 30602
Office: 706-542-2574
E-mail: spkane@uga.edu
www.caed.uga.edu