Consult the resources in this guide when you are looking for information about a product, the market for a certain product or both. In researching a product or its market you may find an overwhelming amount of information or you may struggle to find only a small amount of information. It depends on the nature of the product and the size of its market.
Consumer products, such as smartphones, car GPS systems and chocolate candy are relatively easy to research and the library has a number of databases that provide good information about them. On the other hand, industrial products or those that are sold from business to business are harder to research and the library has fewer good resources about such products (the BCC Research database covers many non-consumer products).
Product research and industry research are closely related. To fully understand a product, you should also research the broader industry or industries of which the product is a part. For example, in researching car GPS systems, you should also seek information about the telecommunications and automobile industries.
Also, the market for some products can grow so large that the product itself constitutes an industry, for example soft drinks or bottled water. You will find useful information about such a product in both market research databases and industry profile databases.
