Guide to researching the beauty and personal care industry

Business research can be beautiful, too! Image courtesy of pumpkincat210

About

My friends in the Summer Business Cluster are working on a research project that addresses the beauty and personal care industry.  The resources found on this page should provide them with an excellent start to finding good information for the industry.

Best Bets for Industry Analysis

The resources in this section are the best bets for analyzing the broad industry.

IbisWorld

IbisWorld is a good place to get started for a good overview of several sectors of the U.S. industry.

• Simply search by keyword for “beauty”, “cosmetics,” “perfume,” “toiletries,” etc. to find a number of different relevant reports.
• Note:  Don’t just rely on one report in IbisWorld.  There will be several reports for industries that operate within the beauty industry.

First Research

First Research also offers broad industry overviews, which compliment the reports from IbisWorld quite nicely. You can find reports on “personal care products”, “cosmetics, and more.

• Many reports offer much better global coverage than IbisWorld.
• Reports cover critical issues, business challenges, trends, opportunities, and more.

Passport

Passport some excellent market research reports on consumer products in specific countries. Passport is a great tool to use to understand the industry on a domestic and  international level.

• The best way to search for lodging information is to browse under Industries to “Beauty and Personal Care” then use the “Search Tree” to browse by product category and country.
  • Note that there are multiple product segments under the larger category.
• It is also useful in finding related company profiles, which include strategy of the companies in the industry.   Search for major companies by name in the search box.  (Look for Local Company Profiles or Global Company Profiles under the Analysis filter to find these quickly).
• Passport also addresses the broad Political, Economic, Social, and Technological trends affecting industries. This video shows you how to find information from Passport GMID for your PEST analysis.

Mintel

Mintel has a excellent market research reports that address the consumer side of the beauty and personal care industry.

• Note that Mintel separates the two categories, but both contain relevant reports for this project.
• The market research reports in Mintel cover consumer buying, demand, preferences, market drivers, and other consumer information.
• Simply use the search option for keywords relating to cosmetics, beauty, personal care, perfumes, toiletries, etc.
• Under the “Category Overview” header, you can also browse to the “Beauty” or “Personal Care” sectors to see the full range of market research data.

Statista

Statista is great resource to find some extremely useful statistics for you industry. Simply search for keywords companies, or brands relating to cosmetics, beauty, personal care, perfumes, toiletries, to find stats for your project.

• Tip:  Once you find a useful statistic, look at the “Release” tab on the left side of the page to find the “Source Link,” which will lead you to the original data source and potentially more information you can use.

Business Source Complete

Business Source Complete has a lot of useful information that can take your research to the next level. I’ve listed here last not because it is the least important, but because I would us articles and reports from Business Source Complete to fill in the gaps of your research.

• You will find Industry Profiles and Trade Publications that can enhance the broad coverage of other industry reports. Search for ”lodging” or “hotels”.
• Look for trade publications such as Global Cosmetics Industry , Beauty Packaging ,  and Soap, Perfumery, and Cosmetics for excellent information written by people who are embedded in the industry.

SEC Filings

The 10-k (annual SEC filings) for individual companies in the industry contain financial information for companies, as well as textual descriptions of business strategies, risk factors, competition, and more. Look in Part 1, Item 1 and Item 1A for this information in a company’s 10-K report. You will notice that the companies use some of the similar language found in reports like IBISWorld and others.

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Top Picks for Company Analysis

The following resources are particularly useful when analyzing specific companies in the industry.

Mergent Online

Mergent Online should be your first place to look for company information.

• Mergent is an excellent tool for in-depth company financial information
• Mergent has company financial ratios
• It has Equity (stock) Reports for major companies. Take a look at this video for how to find Equity Reports in Mergent Online.
• It is a great way to compare companies in the same industry. This video shows you how to compare companies in the same home improvement retail industry with Mergent Online.

SEARCH STRATEGIES FOR GETTING THE MOST OUT OF MERGENT:

1. Search for your company, and look at the Company Financials tab.  You can download up to 30 years of as-reported financial information for public companies.
2. Search for your company, and look at the Competitors tab to analyze the competition.
3. Search for your company, and look at the Reports Tab.  Click on Equity Reports to get a stock report for your company and a few of its competitors.
4. Search for your company, and look at the Horizon tab to understand suppliers and customer relationships.
5. On the search menu, click the Investext Snapshot tab. Search for your company to find up to three stock reports about your company.

This video demonstrates how to find the most-essential information quickly in Mergent Online.

Investext

Investext contains analyst, stock, and brokerage reports for industries and companies.

• Use the Company search box to search for leading companies in the idustry to find both company and industry reports.

OneSource

OneSource is another fantastic resource for both company and industry information.

• It has company news, financials, SWOT analyses, ratio comparisons, peer analysis, stock reports and more.

Hoover’s Online

Hoover’s Online has great company and industry information.

• Use the Company tab to search for a particular company to find company financials, competitors, company news, and more.
• Use the Industry Tab to search for your industry terms to find some excellent industry reports. The industry data comes from First Research, which is the same information found via the First Research interface.

Privco

Privco is an excellent resource to use when trying to find information about privately held companies.

• Use it to search for information about AirBNB and other private companies in the industry.

Factiva

Factiva is a great resource for looking for news about companies in the industry.

• You will also find company profiles, financials, ratios, and more in the ”Companies & Markets” section of Factiva.
• This video shows you how to use Factiva effectively when analyzing your company.

LexisNexis

In LexisNexis, use the “Get Company Information” search box to search for company information.

• In addition to company financial information, you will find company news, company organization and subsidiary information, and company legal/lawsuit information.