This page will walk you through the process of creating a sales forecast using secondary market research with suggested sources.
Finding Market Potential Using a Top Down Approach - Roofing for Existing Residential Homes
Finding Market Potential for Niche Product or Service using a Bottom Up Approach: Vertical Gardening Containers
Market potential is the projected sales for an industry within a geographic area. You hopefully found this information when conducting your target market analysis.
Most of you will be calculating market potential for selling to businesses. However if you are selling to a retail chain, you may want to also understand the consumer market potential for the product as well as their behavior (such as where they shop) as you analyze your B2B market potential.
To calculate market potential there are two things that analysts need to understand
You may find market research reports where market potential is provided especially at the national level. In those reports you may be able to drill down deeper to figure out the potential for a specific segment. For instance, if you are looking at the Roofing Contractor report in IBISWorld, if you go to the products/markets page you can figure out the potential for the residential market.
What if I need to find local market information? Follow the guidance on the Target Market Analysis page of this guide.
Sources that can help you determine B2B (business-to-business) market potential:
Sources to help you determine consumer market potential:
Database resources for locating competitors:
Web resources for locating competitors:
Once you create a draft of your forecast, you should get an expert opinion!
Calculations for sales forecast should be part of an appendix to your deliverable. Be sure to include any assumptions you make in calculating market potential, sales potential, and your forecast. Be sure to cite any sources you use in your calculations. Citations should be endnotes using the Chicago Manual of Style. For more information on citations go to the Citations and Business Writing page of this guide.
Refer to the product deliverable requirements on the I-CORE canvas site. You will use your target market and persona research to help inform the decisions your make on your product analysis. It is okay to use Google, Amazon, and other web resources to understand competitive offerings as you figure out how to appeal to your customer.
