Guides: MRKT 657 Consumer Insights: Home

Pandemic Intro

Due to Quebec government and university directives, McGill campuses have been closed since March 2020. As a result, all library branches are closed until further notice. Library staff continue to provide virtual reference during service hours. Amanda and Dawn are available via email and virtual consultation.

Contact
Email Us!

*Please select either one librarian to email or message both Dawn and Amanda together in order to ensure the best possible response to your query.

dawn.mckinnon@mcgill.ca
amanda.wheatley@mcgill.ca

Books and Background Information

You can search the Library catalogue for books to learn more about topics that are relevant to the course and your assignments (ex consumer behavior, retail design, shopping malls, etc…).

WorldCat: Use the facets on the left of your search results to limit results to books or ebooks.

Articles and News

You can search these databases for articles on topics related to the course, or to learn more about the shopping mall or retail industries that you are interested in.

Journal and magazine articles

For the best results you'll want to repeat your search in more than one database.

Business Source Complete: Comprehensive database of articles from scholarly and trade journals, working papers, market reports, industry reports, and news.
ABI/Inform: Similar to Business Source Complete, more emphasis on trade publications.
Google Scholar: Useful for finding relevant articles, although the coverage isn't as comprehensive as the databases listed above.
CBCA Complete: Canadian business and current affairs magazines.

Newspaper articles

Canadian Newsstream: Newspaper articles from over 300 Canadian newspapers. English-language only.
Eureka.cc: The only database that includes articles from French-language newspapers. Change source from "all content" to "Canada (FR)" to search all major French-language newspapers in Canada.

Industry Research

You can search our industry research databases for reports on forms of retail (ex shopping centers, grocery stores, etc) or on specific retail industries (shoe stores, women's clothing stores, etc).

The following databases contain reports on consumer goods & services.

IBISWorld (Canada & US)
Mintel (Canada & US)
Passport (International)

Tips

Use reports from all three databases to get a complete picture of an industry (ex women's clothing).
If you can't find a report for the Canadian market, look for a US report and determine if the information there could be applied to the Canadian context.

Consumer Research

Vividata : Psychographic and demographic data on Canadian consumers.
SimplyAnalytics: Create maps and reports using Canadian demographic data.
You must create an account if you want to save your work. Limited to 5 users at a time.
Mintel: Reports include a databook spreadsheet containing details on consumer behaviour and preferences.
Passport: Reports on consumer lifestyles (click Consumers at the top of the page) provide details on trends in different areas: digital consumer, households, income & expenditures, lifestyles, population.

Statistics & Data

Statista: Brings together data from a variety of sources. Best place to start looking for statistics, etc.
Statistics Canada is a good source for provincial-level statistics.
Relevant sections:
» Retail and wholesale industry statistics
» Survey of Household Spending
Montréal en statistiques: Data provided by the city.
- For data on retail sector, see Commerce de détail on this page.
- For data on different areas of Montreal, see the page par territoire.

Can't find a report or statistic?

In cases where the specific reports, statistics, or data are not available, you will need to carry out your own research, bringing together articles or news items that provide you with information you are interested in.

A few approaches you can try:

Look for reports for a more general industry or market and extrapolate the information there to your particular case. For example, if you can't find a report on men's running shoes, look for a report on men's sportsware and/or men's footware.
Look for reports for a related or broader geographic area. If you can't find a information on the Quebec market, see if you can find data for Canada, the US, or North America.
Search for individual articles or news stories on your topic for insights and statistics. Sometimes those articles will mention specific reports or data sources that you can track down for more information. See Articles and News box above for links to the best resources to use.