Starting your business using Business Information databases
If you have an idea about starting your own business, then the Business Library is worth a visit. Finding out more about the market, consumer trends and who your competitors are is critical to establishing your business on a firm basis. How the Business Information databases can help you in starting your business.
Are you thinking of setting up a new business or extending an existing one? Discover the basics of market research and help your business grow with Mintel Ireland the world's leading market intelligence agency.
In the last 18 months, many of us have had to adapt our way of working. Remote working is now commonplace for many employers and employees and in many cases, it has produced effective and positive results. However, with this new way of working comes many new challenges. At Work Matters at the Library, we have compiled a number of websites and web resources that give handy tips and advice to those who are getting used to the remote workspace.
Work Matters at the Library is a national Libraries programme that is designed to help those looking for a job or a career change or starting their own business. The first area we are going to look at is supporting those who are looking for jobs or changing career, starting with a look at CV’s and cover letters.
Throughout the Covid 19 situation, the Business Information Service, provided by the Central Library, has carried on. Like the businesses and educational institutions that we support, we have had to adapt our service.
Euromonitor International is the publisher of the Passport database - a powerful resource for international market, consumer and economic research. During COVID 19 restrictions staff at the Business Information Centre use this resource to answer patron enquires as diverse as the coffee market in Ireland to the market for gum in Morocco.
Until the temporary Covid 19 closure, the Business Library in the Central Library offered library visitors access to many valuable e-resources. Following discussions with our suppliers, library staff are now in a position to remotely access several of these databases. In the past library users undertook their own research in the library. In this new situation, detailed below, library users email questions to the business library staff who will then search the databases listed for useful answers. We are pleased to be able to restore an important part of the service we offered in the Business Library, and we will do our best to answer your queries.Mintel: covers Irish consumer reports.Mintel is one of our most popular databases. We have a subscription to their Irish consumer reports. It’s a resource that entrepreneurs and students regularly travelled to the business library to use. We find these reports are particularly useful for anyone writing a business plan. Mintel reports provide a combination of consumer data and expert analysis. For each report, they typically commission a survey from a sample of 1,350 ROI and 650 NI people. The information gathered from surveys, trade and media sources is presented in a digestible form by an analyst with experience in the area. Mintel Reports cover many topics in the areas of Finance, Food & Drink, Leisure, Lifestyles and Retail.New reports are produced regularly and they reflect the changing tastes of the Irish public. A recent example is, for instance, Healthy Eating – Salt, Sugar, Fat. Market research needs to be up to date and we find Mintel reacts quickly to dynamic situations, the two most recent reports they have produced on Automotive Retail, and the Cheese Industry already contain predications about how Covid 19 will effect customer behaviour in these markets.Marketline: covers every major market place in the world.This database provides a vast amount of information. It’s one we find especially useful to students seeking to do PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental) analysis of a particular country and for business people interested in overseas markets. In Marketline there is access to company, industry, financial, city and country business data, case studies, data and statistics for every major marketplace in the world.Euromonitor: covers a number of countries around the world.Euromonitor’s Passport Service provides detailed data and analysis on industries and consumer reviews and trends across a number of countries around the world. It provides access to thousands of country and market research reports, company profiles and breaking news. Its forecasts are there to help develop business opportunities.How to access this service. Email your enquiry to [email protected] and a librarian will search the relevant databases and let you know what the process yields. You will be asked to read and accept the terms and conditions (by email) relating to relevant database information. After you have emailed your acceptance a copy of the relevant information will then be emailed to you.Who can access this service? This service is available to members of Dublin City Libraries. If you are not a member you can join online. The service is also available to members of the public referred by our Work Matters library partners.We would also like to encourage you to look at the other useful business resources available, and on BorrowBox, all accessible with your library card. Submitted by Sandra in the Business Library.
