Head of User Services
& Business Librarian
Companies & Competitors
Use the resources on this page to learn about the companies in the industry, or to analyze peers and competitors in the industry.
- Search D&B Hoover's for companies within the industry
- Use the company news, SWOT Analysis, Analysis Reports, and Peer Analysis to understand the companies within the industry
- D&B Hoovers
Use for company profiles, news, analyst reports, SWOT analyses, executive information, company financials, and more. Note: If you have trouble logging in, try opening the link in an Incognito or Private browser window.
- Mergent Online
Contains extensive public company information including financials, filings, equity and industry reports, U.S. economic information, and much more. Information can be screened, selected, and downloaded.
- Search Investext for public companies within the supermarket industry (Kroger, etc.)
- Investext reports will analyze specific companies, or groups of companies, while discussing industry trends and competitors.
- Use the 10-K filings (often called annual reports) of public companies within the industry, such as Kroger, Publix, , etc.
- Look at the Business Summary and Risk Factors (Item 1 and 1A), which is where the company will describe industry challenges
- Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis, also gives the company's perspective on its business results and how it is doing within the industry.
- 10-Ks can be found in D&B Hoover's in the tab to the left, or via the SEC website, linked below.
- EDGAR Company Filings"The EDGAR database provides free public access to corporate information, allowing you to research a public company’s financial information and operations by reviewing the filings the company makes with the SEC. "
Gather Local Company Information
Gathering information about companies in your local market can be challenging, as you are often dealing with small private companies or subsidiaries of larger companeis. Use the resources below to find out information about companies in your local market. For more resources, check out my Private Companies research page.
- Use Mergent Intellect to identify and locate potential competitors in your industry.
- Is there room in the market for your new business?
- How are the other companies doing? (look at estimated sales)
- Mergent Intellect
Use to find companies and competitors by user-defined search criteria, such as size, location, industry, sales, and more. Useful for private company information which includes estimated sales.
- In addition to understanding the industry's health in your region, you can use the "Industry Market Report" in Bizminer to generate a list of competitors.
- In addition to finding demographics of your local market, you can also use the "Business" feature to map locations of companies by name or industry.
- You can use the information to generate a list of competitors and their addresses.
- SimplyAnalytics
SimplyAnalytics provides demographic, business, or marketing data down to the local level, allowing users to create customized maps and reports with an almost unlimited number of variables. See my Tips & Tricks Guide for help with this database.
