Research and Course Guides: STCM 234: Principles of Strategic Communication: Consumers

Consumer Research

Quality demographic and customer information is important in doing secondary research. Organizations need to understand their customers and prospective customers in order to supply them with the right products and services, and to reach them via their preferred media. There are many resources available to help you learn about consumers and their behaviors, attitudes, and opinions.

Consumer Profiles

MRI-Simmons Catalyst This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Demographics, psychographics, product usage, spending behavior, and media habits of U.S. adult consumers, based on national consumer surveys. Use it to create your own custom reports. Available only to current UST students, faculty, and staff. Limited to 50 simultaneous users.
Mintel Academic This link opens in a new window
Mintel provides market research reports covering U.S. and global consumer markets. Sectors covered include consumer goods, travel and tourism, retail, and financial services. The reports analyze market drivers, market sizes and trends, market segmentation, along with consumer attitudes and purchasing habits. Register a personal profile using your UST email to download executive summaries of reports. Available only to current UST students, faculty, and staff.
SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Use SimplyAnalytics (formerly SimplyMap) to create thematic maps, datasets, and reports using thousands of demographic, business, and marketing data variables for the U.S. Use it when you need demographic and marketing data for a specific geographic area in the U.S. such as a city, county, census tract, or ZIP code. Create a free personal account with your UST email to save your work (check your email spam if you don't receive an activation email) or sign in as a guest. Limited to 5 simultaneous users.
RKMA Market Research Handbooks This link opens in a new window
These handbooks focus on various consumer-related markets. Each one includes market forecasts, sector trends, and statistics. Handbooks include Business-to-Business Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Consumer Marketing & Advertising; Consumer Use of the Internet & Mobile; Entertainment & Leisure; Restaurant, Food & Beverage; Retail & E-Commerce; Sports Marketing; and Travel & Tourism.