Research Guides: Supermarket and Grocery Industry: Research the Industry

Industry Surveys

S&P NetAdvantage
Industry survey covers "Supermarkets and Drugstores."
IBISWorld
Reports include coverage of supermarkets and grocery stores, convenience stores, meat markets, and grocery wholesaling.
FitchConnect
Includes reports on the "Food & Drink --Mass Grocery Retail" markets in the United states and 70 countries.

Market Research

Mintel Academic
International reports on the "Food" industry include coverage of "Grocery Store Retailing" and "Instore Bakeries."
Passport (Euromonitor)
U.S. and international coverage of "Grocery Retailers."
MarketResearch.com
Includes reports from Packaged Facts, a market research firm that focuses primarily on foods, beverages, and consumer goods and services. Many reports on the grocery industry.

Association Reports and Data

Supermarket Facts
Annual report from the Food Marketing Institute.

News and Industry Trends

Factiva
News from the Dow Jones wire services, the Wall Street Journal, Barron's and more than 9,000 other newspapers, magazines and trade journals. Factiva is one of the largest databases covering global business news.
To search for industry news, use the “Industry Lookup” to select Factiva’s industry code. Combine this code with index terms like market share or industry trends/analysis from the “Subject Lookup."
Business Source Complete
Search over 3,000 business magazines and trade journals covering management, economics, finance, accounting, and international business.
The database has a “Thesaurus” to help you choose industry names. Search for industry information using NAICS codes by changing the default field to "NAICS code or description."
ABI/INFORM Global
Indexes over 1800 business magazines and scholarly journals covering management, accounting, economics, and finance. Click on the “Topic Guide” tab at the top of the page to use a searchable thesaurus of industry names.

Trade Journals

Trade journals, magazines written for practitioners in an industry, cover news and offer analysis from industry insiders.

Supermarket News
News coverage of the industry, both wholesale and retail.
Progressive Grocer
Look for their ranking of the "Super 50" in the May issue.
Mass Market Retailers (web)
News on supermarkets, drug and discount chains.

Books

The Trader Joe's adventure: turning a unique approach to business into a retail and cultural phenomenon by Lewis, Len
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2005
The Grocers: the rise and rise of supermarket chains by Geoffrey Randall; Andrew Seth. Kogan Page Limited, 2011
Call Number: eBook
ISBN: 9780749461041

Company Profiles

Start by examining what the company says about itself on its website, in its annual report, SEC filings and press releases. Look at the latest Conference Call (or Earnings Call) transcript on the company's Investor Relations page.

In the company's 10-K report pay particular attention to the “Business Overview” section (Item 1) where companies discuss their competitive environment and the “MD&A” section (Item 7) where they discuss their financial condition and the risk factors that might affect company performance.

The following databases offer profiles and data on public companies, both U.S. and international.

S&P NetAdvantage
Current and past stock prices, annual reports, SEC filings for publicly-traded companies. Also equity research reports.

Regulatory Environment

Economic Environment

Food Prices, Expenditures & Costs
Indicators of individual, household, and market-level food consumption, prices, expenditures, food marketing costs, and farm-to-retail price spreads. From the USDA.