How your startup performs depends on various factors, including your business plans, strategies, and of course, the research you did beforehand.

Research, in particular, is one of the most important steps in starting a business. It equips you with the knowledge you need to run your startup efficiently. Often, entrepreneurs do heavy research on the market, so they can get a solid grasp on their respective fields. So, in this article, we’ll be citing four crucial market factors and how you can research them.

4 Market Factors You Should Monitor for Startup’s Success

1. Geographic Market

To sell a product, you need to know where your buyers are, so geographical segmentation comes in handy. In this research method, you pinpoint where to market your product based on data from specific areas. These areas of research could span entire countries or be limited to small towns. Here’s a simple example: Let’s say you sell heated gloves globally. Your geographic research should point you towards colder countries in Europe or North America. Selling your product in tropical regions just isn’t practical nor profitable.

The best way to gather geographic market data is to access datasets. Index Mundi is one such resource. The site contains data and statistics about every continent, including details such as a country’s population, geography, and land use. It even allows you to compare certain countries and their data.

2. Demographic Market

You also need to look into the niche you’re selling to. By researching your current demographic, you’ll be able to create profiles of your target customers. This allows you to keep up with the trends surrounding them. For instance, if your target customers are teens living in northern regions, you can remain up-to-date on the trends that appeal to them.

To create a profile for your target market, you can head over to Up Close & Persona, a tool designed to build your buyer persona. It will help you understand your target customers and the factors that motivate them to make a purchase. You can also gain further insights by conducting surveys. It’s a relatively easy way to gather data from potential clients. Just make sure your respondents fit the criteria.

3. Financial Markets

Generally speaking, the better a country’s economy is, the higher the potential for good business. So, if you’re working on creating a global business, take note of the state of each country’s financial market. Because when a country is experiencing an economic downturn, it would be unwise to focus your efforts there.

Keeping a close watch on world news and current events is the first step to predicting the performance of financial markets. You can also gain insight from market trackers that indicate the general movement of different assets. If you look at the trading heat map on FXCM, you can get a better sense of the trends in the shares, forex, index, commodities, and metals markets. You can adjust the time period to reflect up to 90 days of the movement, which can give you a better view of how financial markets have been performing over longer periods. Today, some of those top movers are US Oil (WTI crude oil) and UK Oil (Brent crude oil). The steady rise in the value of crude oil alludes to how travel is, once again, opening up for different countries. This can be taken as a sign that the global economy is slowly but surely stabilizing, meaning businesses are bouncing back as well.

4. Market Trends

We already touched on trends a while ago, but the scope of this topic warrants its own item. Trends refer to patterns in your current industry as well as your target market. Keeping track of them can help you predict how the market will evolve and adapt to any shifts in its behavior.

To help you pick up on trends, the obvious choice is the Google Trends application. Simply type in a keyword and the program will let you know how often people have searched for it and show statistics on related topics. You can also filter your search to only focus on one country as well as adjust the timeframe. To drill down into specifics, you could also use the Google Keywords Tool, which allows you to see the customers’ behavior when they search for online products and services, including yours.

Once you’ve done your research, you can start working on the next steps for your startup. Improve your products and services, finalize your online platforms and start generating leads. In addition, check out our article ‘The Comprehensive Strategy for Generating Leads for Your Online Business for a step-by-step guide on how to attract new clients.