Supply Chain and Logistics Technology
Importance of Demographics Research
Demographics help you identify the individual members of your audience by key characteristics, wants, and
needs. Before conducting demographics research, you must determine if your customers are individuals or businesses. This will guide variable selection and information gathering. For example, if the customers are individuals, variables such as gender, age, income, etc. will guide information gathering. However, if companies form your customer base, variables such as the industry, sales, and the number of employees become important. Here are some benefits of doing effective demographics research and analysis:
- Demographics explain who makes up your audience and help you to segment your customers by individual characteristics and needs.
- You can use demographics to refine your marketing budget and make more targeted investment decisions about how to engage your audience.
- Demographic data can help brands narrow the scope of their marketing efforts so that their time and money aren't spent pursuing people who are unlikely to become customers.
Importance of Market/Customer Segmentation
Customer segmentation is the process of dividing a target market into smaller groups, based on shared characteristics including demography, psychography, geography, behavior. Your ability to identify and group your target market by lifestyle, hobbies, location, habits, etc., will help to inform your promotional and marketing strategies. Market segmentation will help you customize your product/service, distribution channel, pricing, and marketing message and channel, to grab the attention and meet the specific needs of a narrowly defined customer group.
Psychographics data is just as important as demographics data. Coupled together, they will help you get a clearer picture of your customers’ needs and what moves them to take action to satisfy those needs. Simply put, demographics defines WHO your buyers are, while psychographics explains WHY they buy.
Demographic Data Sources
The following databases are good places to start finding consumer research data including but not limited to demographics and psychographics data:
- MarketResearch.com Academic This link opens in a new windowMarketResearch.com Academic provides libraries with the same vital information used by business professionals around the globe. Top companies rely on us. Our reports help executives, managers, and entrepreneurs drive strategies in both major industries and niche markets. Now librarians, students, faculty, administration, and other library patrons can have access to the same world-class business information.
- PolicyMap This link opens in a new windowPolicyMap is a fully web-based online data and mapping application that gives you access to over 15,000 indicators related to demographics, housing, crime, mortgages, health, jobs and more. Data is available at all common geographies (address, block group, census tract, zip code, county, city, state, MSA) as well as unique geographies like school districts and political boundaries. Data comes from both public and proprietary sources.
- Reference Solutions This link opens in a new windowDirectory information on U.S. and Canadian business, health care, and residential listings. Search by company name, geographic area, business type, SIC code, yellow page listing, revenue, location, number of employees or any combination of the above. In addition to address and phone number, each entry includes officer names and titles, corporate affiliation, business type and size of yellow page advertising. Toll free and fax numbers are given for some companies.
- SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new windowSimplyAnalytics, a web-based mapping, analytics, and data visualization application with 100,000+ data variables, including: demographic data from the US Census and the American Community Survey (ACS), consumer spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX), 2020 election data, and D&B's points-of-interest business file providing detailed information on over 5 million businesses. Additionally, users have access to the premium MRI-SimmonsLOCAL consumer behavior dataset, which includes data on over 8,000 brands. Other premium datasets include the PRIZM Premier, ConneXions and P$YCLE segmentation systems providing data on lifestyle characteristics, tech usage and finances, respectively. The Retail Market Power and Consumer Buying Power datasets enable researchers to understand retail spending, demand, and potential for spending across hundreds of expenditures and stores. UH also subscribes to premium health survey data. Data is available down to the census block group level for most variables.
- Social Explorer This link opens in a new windowProvides quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. Note Requires registering a free account once you access the database.
- SRDS This link opens in a new windowProvides access to Claritas Segmentation & Market Solutions (SMS) for viewing and analyzing data that provides insights into consumer demographics and lifestyles, purchase behaviors and media preferences.
- Sage Data This link opens in a new windowWith Data Planet, you can scan and search the contents of billions of datasets, compare and contrast variables of interest, and create customized views in tables, maps, rankings, and charts. Views also include descriptive summaries of the datasets and data sources. Datasets cover a wide range of subjects – including business, finance, banking, economics, sociology, political science, demography, agriculture, education, international studies, criminal justice, housing and construction, labor and employment, energy resources and industries, and more. Sources include public, private/commercial, and nongovernmental organizations.
Other Online Resources
While you will find a lot of demographic information through the libraries' databases, you may need to look to other resources online for additional information. The following resources will help you with this research:
- Kinder Houston Area SurveyYears of data available on the Houston region's demographic and economic transformations and residents' opinion of these changes
- Pew Research CenterThe Pew Research Center is a well-respected gatherer of demographic data. Here you will find information on a wide variety of topics (not directly related to Houston but quite useful).