Trade and professional association websites often contain trends and forecasts, news, government regulations, regulatory concerns, and new technological developments. Some may provide market data and sales statistics; look for links called "research" or "data."
Conduct a basic Google search on an industry, read articles about your industry, and note which individuals or associations are quoted, or use Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage and IBISWorld to identify trade associations.
Industry reports contain valuable analysis of an industry's operating conditions, driving forces, competitive landscapes, and more. Use these resources to help you identify and define an industry, locate industry surveys and reports, search for industry trends, identify leading companies, find market share data and rankings, get current and in-depth news about an industry, and much more. Be aware that many do not cover smaller niche industries and always check the date to see how current the information is. Supplement these reports with information found in newspapers and trade publications.
Public company, mutual fund, and ETF data plus SEC filings, analyst research reports, industry reports, and stock screening & charting tools.
Government agencies and business information providers use NAICS codes to organize industry information. In addition to the links below, you can search several business databases by NAICS and/or SIC codes for industry information.