In the Competitors & Industry area, you want to know, broadly, what are the general conditions, who else is operating in your industry and how they run their businesses. Number of employees? Location? Financial statements? Areas of expansion? Gap areas? Market share?
The databases below will help both with the broad industry overviews (IBISWorld) and finding exact competitors (ReferenceUSA, Statista).
Looking for news articles and press releases (use the News/Articles tab) is a great way to get an understanding of the industry, too.
This link opens in a new windowUse one of the databases above to find a report related to your industry. These reports contain valuable information for creating a business plan, including information on size of the market, expected growth of the industry, what products and services are sold, and more.
Even if your new company is too niche to have a dedicated report in IBISWorld or Euromonitor, sometimes reading about the broader industry can be helpful.
As well, use the industry reports in IBISWorld to identify useful trade associations in your area. Watch the video below to see instructions:
Many business reference sources such as company directories or industry analyses use the federal government's numerical codes (SIC or NAICS) to describe types of businesses. Use the links below to identify your code, and thus help identify who else is in your industry:
This link opens in a new windowUse the database Reference Solutions to build a list of competitors at any level -- local (zip code or town), metro area, search by radius, county, state, or nationwide. (It's called Reference USA in the video, but it still searches the same.)