Your Target Market

Updated: July 15, 2016

Survey of Household Spending - Statistics Canada
Raw data in table form from the Survey of Household Spending (SHS). This general resource provides information on household spending by demographics. Report includes detailed information on Canadian spending patterns, household equipment, and housing conditions. Also includes the ability to view data from British Columbia only; click on "Add/Remove Data".

  • The average household expenditure on clothing and miscellaneous expenses by province or in Canada as a whole. Compare changes over last few years.

Library Resources

Access to the following sources may be available through your local public or academic library. For information on how to obtain a library card, and for additional information on using libraries in BC, please visit our Getting Access to Library Resources page.

Vividata (formerly "Print Measurement Bureau")
Includes information on Canadians' usage of over 3500 products and services. Information includes demographics, attitudes, media consumption, retail outlets, frequency of usage and brands used. UBC affiliates and in-person library patrons can learn more about the resource here.

  • Includes spending habits by province and major Canadian cities broken down by data such as:  martial status, family size, net income, and language spoken.PMB Category Reports - PMB 2011 Spring Study. Information on the personal buying preferences of Canadians with regard to jewellery. Check for relevant data under Apparel, Shopping & Misc. Products and scroll down to Fine Jewellery

Marketresearch.com/Freedonia Focus

How to access: Check your local public or academic library to see about access. If you are a UBC student, staff, faculty or in-person library visitor you can access this resource.

While you can search this website only some Canadian libraries provide full-text access to the market research reports on industries and demographics for North American industries. They can range from 50 to 400+ pages in length, and contain charts, tables, and graphs, and key facts. Marketresearch.com has varied industry coverage and includes US and international information.

  • Freedonia Focus Reports. (2014). Jewelry, Watches and Clocks: United States. Retrieved from Market Search.com Academic database.

"This report forecasts US jewelry, watch, and clock demand and shipments in US dollars at the manufacturers' level to 2018."

UBC Psychology Research Guide

Sometimes it can be useful when researching consumer behaviour and other marketing topics with psychological dimensions to consult article databases in that research area. This is an online guide to print and online resources about psychology in the UBC Library collection. UBC affiliates will have access to all the resources listed. 

  • Carrigan, M., McEachern, M., Moraes, C., & Bosangit, C. (2016). The fine jewellery industry: Corporate responsibility challenges and institutional forces facing smes. Journal Of Business Ethics. Retrieved from PsycINFO online database.

"There has been limited coverage of the corporate responsibility (CR) practices of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the mainstream CR literature. Furthermore, there has been no systematic analysis of the responsibilities of the high value jewellery industry and jewellery SMEs in particular. This study explores the potential for harm and value creation by individual stakeholders in fine jewellery production."

  • Moraes, C., Carrigan, M., Bosangit, C., Ferreira, C., & McGrath, M. (2015). Understanding ethical luxury consumption through practice theories: A study of fine jewellery purchases. Journal Of Business Ethics. Retrieved from PsycINFO online database

"This paper builds on existing research investigating CSR and ethical consumption within luxury contexts, and makes several contributions to the literature. First, it addresses existing knowledge gaps by exploring the ways in which consumers perform ethical luxury purchases of fine jewellery through interpretive research."

Public Opinion Polls

Roper Center for Public Opinion
Preserves the data from polls conducted by many leading survey organizations for the use of researchers, students, and journalists. Includes a section on how to analyze polls. Only for those affiliated with UBC.

Ipsos
Links to Canadian, U.S. and international polls. Includes polls on consumer goods.

Primary Research

The main point of this guide is to introduce you to a wide range of secondary market research resources but keep in mind there is great value in analyzing other information including:

  • Advertising, blogs and sales brochures
  • Your personal network and employees
  • Direct observation, focus groups and interviews with potential customers