marketplace trends
Gathering market research reports, industry profiles and trade and business news is a good way for your entire team to get acquainted with your the economic, demographic, technology, political, natural and cultural environment impacts on your product/service category.
Syndicated research reports don't always align perfectly with your clients offerings. You may need to glean what you can from broader or adjacent categories.
By smart Googling you will find additional market research, ALWAYS evaluate the information you find to judge it's quality. Consider methods used to gather and compile data, intended audience, publication purpose, author expertise and biases. If you are unsure about source credibility, make an appointment and I will walk you through assessing it.
Search the news to update market research and industry reports.
Trade associations and journals can provide valuable information about regulations, industry impact and developments. Sometimes their most valuable information is restricted to members.
- Wine Institute Offers summaries of state laws on wine sales
- Wine Market Council
- Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America
- Wine Business Monthly (requires registration)
Sometimes books and journals in the library are helpful too!






target audience
Market research reports and surveys provide demographic, behavioral and psychographic data on consumers.
The search interfaces for many of these databases are not intuitive. Where available use the tutorials provided or make an online appointment for help with searching.
Citing the original source of a data point about a target is more persuasive than citing data twice removed. Whenever possible, trace data back to it's original source.




Access courtesy of the Department of Geography & the Environment.

competitors
Your marketplace trends research should surface key competitors.
The company databases listed here provide key performance indicators and in some cases SWOT analysis on the whole company level. Company and product/service news, not limited to press releases, and deep dives into web sites and social media are essential for discerning competitor strengths and weaknesses.
Since the wine making space is diverse and fragmented you may need to identify competitors and research them using niche sources outside of typical company databases. Seaching recommened online wine shops or popular wine ratings for Italian wines that offer similar varietals at comparable price points may be a way to get started.
Finding and exploring competitors websites may be among the best sources of information.
Food & Wine: 10 Best Online Wine Shops
Wine Spectator Wine Ratings (Risky because requires 30 day free trial with Credit Card)





marketing
Listed here are ebook in our collection on wine marketing.
- Wine Positioning
- Digital Wine
- Successful Social Media and Ecommerce Strategies
- Wine Management and Marketing Opportunities for Companies and Challenges for the Industry
- Contemporary Wine Marketing and Supply Chain Management
- Digital Wine Marketing (Tip: In Italian, if you don't read, use Google Translate)


news & Scholarship
Search general business news and trade associations for intelligence about market trends and competitors. Use the filters in ABI Inform, Business Source Premier and Nexis Unit to limit to trade publications. Trade publications are often cited in industry reports and Statista infographics.
Scholarly research may be useful to support your marketing plan.
In addition to the databases listed below, use your WSJ.com subscription and the Bloomberg terminals in the Gmelich Finance Lab and Falvey Library.



