LibGuides: How to Research Your Competitors: Online Resources

Competition Research Database

Why is researching your competition important?
Researching your competition can help you: identify the trends that affect your industry; determine whether your expenditures, profit, and your balance sheet or on par with your competitors; and help you network with other professionals in your industry and find all of the suppliers and service providers.

How can our resources help?
By using our resources you can find market research reports, trend reports, company and industry profiles, reference books, sample business plans and almost everything else you will need to help you identify and research your competition.

What else can the Business and Career Center do for you?
The Learning Resources can be found through the library's website and can be accessed with the Laptops in the Business and Career Center. These laptops are available for loan using your Brooklyn Public Library card. Do not hesitate to ask for help or suggestions from the librarian in the center. You can also make an appointment online for one-on-one research help. To find out more about our Book a Librarian service, click here.

Learning Resources with Remote Access

All of these resources can be accessed from home using your Brooklyn Public Library card and your 4 digit PIN. Either follow these links or go to https://www.bklynlibrary.org/online-resources/list to see the full list of our resources.

ABI Inform This link opens in a new window
Find current business information in full articles from business journals, newspapers, and trade publications.
Publications include Wall Street Journal and Barron's.
Gale Business: Entrepreneurship This link opens in a new window
Information on opening, operating, and growing a small business including financing, managing, marketing, and accounting; contains sample business plans.
Gale Business: Insights This link opens in a new window
Company and industry profiles, including brand information, investment reports, market research reports, rankings and news.
Gale Directory Library This link opens in a new window
Business directories for companies, publishers, associations and more. Includes titles like Brands and Their Companies and Ward's Business Directory.
Mergent Intellect This link opens in a new window
Access to public & private U.S. and international business data, executive contact information, First Research industry profiles, current D&B Key Business Ratios, job search, residential look-ups, and Census demographics.
Plunkett Research Online This link opens in a new window
Market research, industry analysis and company profiles.
Reference Solutions This link opens in a new window
Commercial and residential directory listings, job postings, and data for entrepreneurs to research target customers, competitors and suppliers.
RKMA Consumer Market Research This link opens in a new window
RMKA publishes annual eBooks in PDF format following consumer, company and industry market trends.
Titles include:
• Business Management Services (includes Accounting, Consulting)
• Business-to-Business Marketing
• The Digital Economy
• The Gig Economy
• Net-Zero United States (includes Climate Action Plans)
• Retail & E-Commerce Market Research
• U.S. Cities & Communities
Sports Market Analytics This link opens in a new window
Market research and industry news on all aspects of the sporting goods and sports marketing industries, including sports equipment sales, sports participation, broadcasting and sponsorship. On the SMA log-in page, enter only your library card number. The username and password fields are auto-populated by the vendor.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Quantitative data categorized into 21 market sectors such as media, business, finance, and politics.
Winmo This link opens in a new window
Previously known as Redbooks, Winmo provides background on advertisers - their brands, media spending, campaigns, and contacts, and detailed profiles of advertising agencies - their clients, market specialization, and contacts.

Learning Resources only available at the Brooklyn Public Library

All of these resources can ONLY be accessed on a Brooklyn Public Library computer at the Central Library or at one of our branch locations. More details about each of these resources will be listed in their individual descriptions.

Mintel This link opens in a new window
Market research reports with analysis of consumer markets, companies, and brands. This resource can only be accessed at the Central Library.
SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new window
Demographic, business, and marketing data on a local level; users may create reports and maps with hundreds of demographic, business and marketing variables.

Remote access to SimplyAnalytics is available to anyone within Kings County (Brooklyn) with a Brooklyn Public Library card.

Exceptions to remote access content are below:
PRIZM Premier behavioral marketing & audience segments and Nielsen Scarborough local market research are only available to users on-site at any Brooklyn Public Library location.

PRIZM and Scarborough data is not available to remote users.

On-site users will sign in to SimplyAnalytics with their BPL card number and PIN.

Remote users will sign in to SimplyAnalytics with an email address and password.

First-time remote users must follow the "Create an Account" link.

You may have on-site and remote SimplyAnalytics accounts but these accounts are NOT connected. We apologize for the inconvenience.