As the Asia-Pacific countries take on more important roles in the world economy, demand for research on consumer markets and product trends in the region continues to grow both domestically and globally. Not only established western information companies are putting more emphasis on their business in the region: many new domestic players providing research services and market intelligence are appearing on the horizon, ranging from research report aggregators to search engines that could register the pulse
of consumer and market trends by analysing search keywords and searcher behaviour.
One can easily find many sources and small companies in China who are offering research reports on the Web, but it is still difficult to judge which providers are delivering the highest quality of reports with reliable source information and solid research methodology. Even though many of the reports published by the new small vendors are often Chinese-only, assistance in translation as well as custom research are generally
available.
Most of the large business information aggregators offer a wide selection of market and industry research reports covering Asia-Pacific countries. Specialist market research aggregators include MindBranch and MarketResearch.com, both of which offer pay-as-you-go access.
The companies listed below all publish market research reports either specifically for the Asia-Pacific region or include Asia-Pacific countries in their coverage.
Euromonitor
Euromonitor offers a couple of specialist market research products, both of which offer very good coverage of Asia-Pacific countries.
Integrated Marketing Information System (IMIS)
Euromonitor's Integrated Marketing Information System (IMIS) is an online service that provides global, regional and national consumer market research. Data is standardised across all markets, making it easy to make comparisons. Asia-Pacific country coverage includes: Australia; Azerbaijan; China; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Japan; Kazakhstan; Malaysia; New Zealand; Pakistan; Philippines; Singapore; South Korea; Taiwan; Thailand; Uzbekistan; and Vietnam.
IMIS offers integrated access to statistics, market reports and company profiles. The Global Statistical database is a guide to market performance trends:
Market volume and value sales
Company shares
Brand shares
Pricing data and packaging data
Distribution channel sales
Forecasts.
Global, regional and national reports offer in-depth analysis of key market drivers:
State of the market: key findings and industry news
Operating environment: economic, legislative, social
and demographic trends
Regional and sector market performance analysis
Product and packaging innovations
Company strategies and shares
Future outlook.
Company profiles provide detailed assessments of the strengths, weaknesses, strategies and market positions of the leading international manufacturers. IMIS also offers a range of powerful analysis functions. Users can analyse statistics to create brand new datasets, customised to match specific research needs:
Compare value data by converting it to a common currency
Calculate growth rates
Assess the impact of inflation by swapping from current to constant data
View data in per capita and per household terms
Use the sum function to create unique regional aggregates
Charts.
Market Research Monitor
Euromonitor's Market Research Monitor is an online database offering over 2,200 top line research reports on international consumer, industrial and service markets. The database is updated monthly with approximately 250 new reports added annually. A six-year archive of reports is available.
More than 50 countries are researched. Asia-Pacific countries covered include: Australia; China; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; New Zealand; Philippines; Singapore; South Korea; Taiwan; Thailand; and Vietnam. The number of reports and Major Market profiles for each country is as follows:
Country
Number of Market Research Reports
Number of Major Market profiles
Australia
140
2
China
244
5
Hong Kong
94
India
114
Indonesia
96
Japan
128
1
Malaysia
98
New Zealand
90
Pakistan
5
Philippines
98
Singapore
111
South Korea
131
1
Taiwan
101
Thailand
97
Vietnam
91
The main sources of primary and secondary data include national statistical offices, national and international specialist trade press and trade associations. Euromonitor's corporate intelligence research draws on company annual reports, independent analysts' reports, trade press coverage, financial and mainstream press coverage. Trade Interviews are undertaken in order to gain the views of key industry players. Store checks are carried out to confirm products, manufacturers and brands available in the market.
The Euromonitor reports are also available on vendor services such as MarketResearch.com and Market Research (Profound) on Thomson Business Intelligence, both of which were reviewed in VIP, No 28, March 2006.
Freedonia publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually. Its industry analysis provides product and market forecasts, industry trends, threats and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and company profiles. Coverage is international with many reports covering individual Asia-Pacific countries.
Sectors covered include: Automotive & Other Transportation Equipment; Chemicals; Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers; Construction & Building Materials; Energy/Power Equipment; Household Goods & Miscellaneous Service Industries;
Industrial Components and Equipment; Life Sciences & Biotechnology; Medical & Pharmaceutical Products; Metals & Minerals; Packaging; Paper & Textiles; Plastic
Materials & Processing; Plastics Markets; and Security, Electronics & Communication.
Freedonia publishes a special series of China Reports which provide market research, size, share, trends, analysis, demand and sales data on individual markets with data projections up to 2010.
All reports can be purchased via the Freedonia website. The reports are also available on MarketResearch.com and many of the well known aggregated services.
Further information: Freedonia Group - Tel: +1 440 684 9600 - Email: info@freedoniagroup.com.
Frost & Sullivan Asia Portal
Frost & Sullivan is an international marketing, consulting and research company. It publishes various reports series covering various sectors worldwide. The Frost & Sullivan Asia Portal offers unlimited access to its Asia-Pacific market analyses, and news & views for the following markets: Aerospace & Defence; Chemicals, Materials & Food; Communication and IT; Consumer Products; Electronics & Semiconductors; Environment and Energy; Healthcare; Industrial; and Transportation.
Frost & Sullivan says that, 'The goal of Asia Pacific site is to stimulate and sometimes provoke our clients into strategic thought and action by providing new ideas, recommendations, and insights into what is happening in the marketplace.'
Global Insight's Industry and Analysis service provides data on prospects, risks and opportunities for 170 industries around the world. The service covers; Advertising & Media; Agriculture; Automotives; Capital Spending; Construction; Consumer Markets; Energy; Lending and Payments; Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals; IT; Pricing & Purchasing; Steel; Telecomms; Trade & Transportation; and Travel & Tourism.
ICINet is a subsidiary of Huanzi Group, a large domestic market research and consulting firm in China. It provides in-depth analysis for 500 industries, 160 market segments, and a large number of industry and company profiles. It also provides credit rating reports. All reports are published in Chinese and a small number of reports are also published in English. Translation and custom reports are available upon request.
Further information: HZ Research - Tel. +86 10 85869126 - Email: report@icinet.com.cn.
IMRB International
Formerly known as 'Indian Market Research Bureau' and now part of the Kantar Group in India, IMRB is a market research firm in South Asia with offices in over 29 cities across 10 countries, including Singapore, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. It has large field networks for custom research. Its research services cover the following areas:
Mintel supplies consumer, media and market research. Its market research reports cover various sectors on all regions and individual countries. A Global New Products Database monitors worldwide product innovation in the consumer packaged goods markets. Mintel Menu Insights provides aggregated access to both the reports and the Global New Products Database.
Mintel also publishes the Asia Pacific Retail Handbook (May 2006), which provides macro-economic and retail statistics and information on 13 of the major economies in the Asia-Pacific region: Australia; China; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; New Zealand; Philippines; Singapore; South Korea; Taiwan; and Thailand.
All products can be accessed and purchased via the Mintel website. The reports are also available on MarketResearch.com and many of the well known aggregated services.
SCR&A is a Chinese market research firm providing company and industry research, including company profiles, competitive intelligence, and in-depth market research. Its research reports are based on site-visits and in-person interviews of end-users,
suppliers, distributors and organisations. The information elaborated on in the reports include operation, marketing, purchase, and management team. A company database contains the profiles of a large number of Chinese companies. A customised research service is available upon request. Nearly all reports are available in Chinese and English.
Some of the SCR&A reports are available via aggregators including ISI Emerging Markets.
Further information: Tel. +86 10 6211 7871.
Snapdata
Snapdata International, which trades as Snapshots International, provides market and industry data. Snapdata offers a number of series:
Global Panorama Series - offers a collection of Global and Regional market research reports, which include data from countries representing 80%+ of world GDP. The Overviews provide top-line data for global market size with segmentation by region or country and a list of top players with pan-regional Market Share. The Panorama reports drill down a further layer, providing the market shares for each of the major countries included. The Asia-Pacific global report covers: Alcoholic Drinks; Automotive; Energy and Utilities; Financial Services; Food; Media; Non-Alcoholic Drinks; Pharmaceuticals and Telecommunications.
Snapshots Series - provides statistical overviews of each industry by individual country. The market trends are demonstrated with historical market size data, key companies, segmentation, distribution and forecasts. Asia-Pacific countries covered include: Australia; China; Hong Kong; India; Singapore; and Taiwan.
Company Portraits - provide a company profile based on market presence rather than just company financials.
Further information: Snapshots International - Tel: +44 (0)20 7829 8408 - Email: helpdesk@snapdata.com.
TGI
TGI (Target Group Index) is a global network of single-source market research surveys, providing comparable consumer insights for over 50 countries. Asia-Pacific country coverage includes: China; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Philippines; Singapore; Taiwan; and Thailand.
Each country's survey provides:
Consumption of products and services - covers 18 broad product/service areas taking in the full range of consumer products and services and providing data on some 4,000 brands in over 500 product fields
Demographics - includes full information on age, sex, income, working status, marital status, education, household characteristics and much more
Media consumption - any of the product, brand, demographic and attitudinal information can be directly analysed against the media consumption data collected from the same respondents. Media usage information is detailed and includes: Press; TV (including satellite, cable & digital); Radio; Cinema; Outdoor; and Internet
Attitudes and beliefs -questionnaires typically carry around 250 statements which are specifically designed to measure the values and opinions held by respondents. These statements cover attitudes to health, holidays, the environment, drink, finance and many other areas. TGI claims that the resulting information provides a unique, qualitative perspective to quantitative research data.
TGI also offers a couple of good free services:
Global TGI Top Line - provides a selection of TGI data showing percentage penetration and total users (in 000s) of each product category in each country. The service currently covers 42 categories across 45 countries
Global TGI Barometer - covers topical issues, using data from all areas of the studies, making comparisons across many countries. Using the latest TGI data, a new issue is added to tgisurveys.com every month.
The Yano Research Institute is a marketing research and consulting firm based in Japan. Its market research studies cover a wide range of sectors. Typically, a report contains data on market size, market share, market structure, details of major players, and market trends and forecasts. More than 200 titles are published annually. Most reports are written in Japanese but a fair number are available in English. A translation service is available.
The Yano Data Bank is a business intelligence library, where registered members have access to market-related information primarily consisting of Yano's own market reports published over the last 45 years, as well as other resources such as government economic statistics, business journals, industry magazines, etc.
Yano also publishes a number of Japanese-language magazines on various aspects of market research.
Further information: Yano Research Institute - Tel: +81 3 5371 6907
The FreePint Family is a family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success.
'FreePint... provides most of my professional development because it won't come through work and [other resources] just don't cut it.'
FUMSI Forum: Do you have a research question? Post it to the FUMSI Forum, where professionals share Q&A and useful tips on how to Find, Use, Manage and Share Information. It's free.