Market Research Resources
Below are free online resources and databases commonly used for international market research. You can utilize these resources to assess market potential, select target markets, find potential customers and distributors, and more.
Country Information and Statistics
Prepared by the International Trade Administration, these are very detailed guides covering many aspects of foreign trade. You can use the Doing Business In and Political and Economic Environment sections to learn about the business environment and the current state of any country. These guides also inform about the investment climate, business travel, and the essentials of selling U.S. products in those countries.
The International Business Center at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University created this international business portal. The country profiles on the website cover 200+ countries and offer information on their governments, economies, corporations, demographics, trade statistics, and more. The site also has country comparison tools that compare countries on select indicators.
Published annually by the International Business Center at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, this index compares the market attractiveness of the 97 largest economies. The tool measures market potential in eight dimensions using relevant indicators.
Created by the World Bank, this database offers hundreds of indicators on the economies and demographics of countries.
Replacing the World Bank’s old Doing Business reports, B-READY measures the business and investment climates in 180 economies worldwide annually.
Short overviews of countries and additional reports are available on this website created by the World Bank. Select a country and review the Country At-A-Glance section and other country-related information on the page.
Helpful for economic overviews. Country reports provide information on economic forecasts, strengths and weaknesses, and the trade structure of the countries. Select the country of interest on the landing page.
The ‘Business’ sections of U.S. embassy websites offer information and reports on the countries they are located. Start by selecting the country of interest on the main web page, then select the embassy link of that country.
Country Risk
Coface is a credit insurance company that operates worldwide. They provide up-to-date risk rankings, business climate, and country information for most of the countries.
Market and Industry Reports
Industry reports available for selected industries in certain countries. The reports provide information on market size, sub-sectors, and industry trends.
These country guides, prepared by the International Trade Administration, offer industry reports on the leading sectors in each country. You can find information on sub-sectors, market sizes, links to other reports, and more in these reports.
Agriculture industry reports on global markets that can be used to identify the markets with the highest potential, view customer trends, and more. This is a free source but a registration is required.
Global market reports available in different segments of the agriculture industry. New reports are published frequently and they can be filtered by location, topic, commodities, and more.
This source provides information on the health care systems of some nations, and can be used to for finding information on the role of government in healthcare, the country’s health insurance outlook, governmental healthcare structure, major renovations, status of electronic records, public vs. private healthcare, and more.
Trade Statistics
Provided by the United Nations, this is a database of international trade statistics for all countries. Trade statistics can be searched by reporters, by trade partners, and by HS Codes. UN Comtrade introduced some access limitations to their database, so you will not be able to download statistics but view them on their website.
Provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online is a dynamic data tool that gives users access to current and cumulative U.S. export and import data. Trade statistics can be searched by HS code, NAICS code, states, and ports.
