Marketing

You can think of demographics as providing information about who your consumers are, and psychographics providing the why they purchase things.

There are many resources available to help you learn about consumers and their behaviors, attitudes, and opinions.

Image by ProjectManhattan, on Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Consumer Behavior 

• Consumer Expenditure Survey

This site consists of two surveys that provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer characteristics. The survey data are collected for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends

  This project studies behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives, including family, community, health, finance, work and leisure. The project explores these topics by combining original public opinion survey research with social, economic and demographic data analysis.

• Consumer Search

  Offers an analysis of important product trends and developments for users to browse.

• Nielson Company Ratings

  TV, online and mobile audience measurement; rankings and ratings in consumer media and marketing behavior.

• American Customer Satisfaction Index

  The ACSI measures consumer satisfaction with more than 200 companies in 43 industries plus the federal government. Find specifics under Industries for more information.

• ESRI Tapestry Segmentation

  This freely available interactive website allows you to search for brief synopses of the lifestyle choices of those who make up specific zip codes or neighborhoods.

Surveys/Polls

• Consumer Confidence Survey

  From the University of Michigan, this survey provides basic information about consumer confidence, one indicator of consumer spending.

• American Time Use Survey

  This survey measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

  The Roper center provides polling data on all sorts of public opinion topics.

• Pew Research Center

  Provides polling information on all sorts of topics.

Consumer Expenditure 

• Consumer Expenditure Survey

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Economic Information

• Economy at a Glance

  Unemployment, Consumer Price Index, both national and state-level data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Overview of US Economy

  GDP by industry, GDP by State, Personal Income, International Investment and Trade, from the Bureau of Economic Analysis

• Economic Research at the St. Louis Fed

  The FRED data service has numerous charts and datasets looking at various parts of the economy.