MKT 309: Principles of Marketing: Articles & Databases

Public companies are required to file quarterly earning reports and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and investment banks publish analyst reports on them on a regular basis. 

Unlike public companies, private companies are not regulated by the federal government. Therefore, it is at the discretion of a private company if, and what, they want to disclose about themselves. It can be more difficult and time consuming to locate information about private companies. 

Murphy Library does not have a "product sales information" database, so you need to look through the resources that we do have for sales information. 

For many specific, branded products (Post-It Notes, Scotch Magic Tape, Nexcare Bandages, etc.) you will not be able to easily find sales data. However, creative searching using the following techniques and those demonstrated in the videos in the box below will help you find anything that does exist. 

Try these techniques in the recommended databases below - if the data is there, you'll probably find it. These are just a few suggested techniques that can be applied to any of the suggested databases. You may have to try other options as well, so be prepared to do some creative searching.

• Start with just your product name alone (Scotch Tape). See how many results you get. If not enough, try variations on your product name (Scotch Magic Tape, Scotch adhesive tape).
• If you're not finding anything, search for the category, not the brand (transparent tape, clear tape, adhesive tape, etc.)
• If you're finding too much or unrelated things, add your company name (3M tape, 3M Scotch, etc.)

Simmons Insights is the main database to use when searching for demographic and consumer information for this class.

Simmons is one of the more advanced marketing database available at Murphy Library. For more in depth information on how to use this database, see the tutorials and user guides in the box below.

Simmons Insights

Simmons Insights is the new consumer intelligence and discovery platform that has replaced the Simmons OneView platform. Insights includes Dictionary Search, which looks and works just like OneView but with several improvements. Insights also includes Smart Search, a new intuitive search feature that allows you to search for terms without worrying about word order or exactly matching the word in the Simmons dictionary.

More Information

UW-Madison has several useful tutorials on how to use Simmons Insights:

• Simmons Insights Overview (2:16)
• Simmons Insights: Creating a Simple Crosstab (2:53)
• Reading Crosstab Results:
  • Sample and Weighted Population (3:00)
  • Vertical and Horizontal Percentage (3:04)

Simmons User Guides