Guides: Marketing Research @ Pitt: Consumers and Psychographics

Consumers and Psychographics

You can think of demographics as providing information about who your consumers are, and psychographics providing the why they purchase things.

There are many resources available to help you learn about consumers and their behaviors, attitudes, and opinions.

Image by ProjectManhattan, on Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The following websites will help you find and understand consumer behavior.

RKMA Market Research Reports This link opens in a new window
Includes 2016-2017 market research reports. Select the Consumer Reports link once in the database to view the handbook (opens as a PDF).

Consumer Expenditure Survey
This site consists of two surveys that provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer characteristics. The survey data are collected for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends
This project studies behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives, including family, community, health, finance, work and leisure. The project explores these topics by combining original public opinion survey research with social, economic and demographic data analysis.
Consumer Search
Offers an analysis of important product trends and developments for users to browse.
Nielson Company Ratings
TV, online and mobile audience measurement; rankings and ratings in consumer media and marketing behavior.
ESRI Tapestry Segmentation
This freely available interactive website allows you to search for brief synopses of the lifestyle choices of those who make up specific zip codes or neighborhoods.

The following resources will link help you find surveys and polls that cover consumer behavior and attitudes.

Free Websites

Consumer Confidence Survey
From the University of Michigan, this survey provides basic information about consumer confidence, one indicator of consumer spending.
American Time Use Survey
This survey measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
The Roper center provides polling data on all sorts of public opinion topics.
Pew Research Center
Provides polling information on all sorts of topics.

The following resources provide data on consumer expenditure or spending.

Pitt Databases:

Free Websites:

Consumer Expenditure Survey
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Pitt Books/Ebooks:

Household Spending: Who Spends How Much on What (E-book)
This eBook provides detailed tables on consumer spending habits in the US.

Understanding the basic economic conditions can help understand and project consumer spending habits. Use the following websites.

Economy at a Glance
Unemployment, Consumer Price Index, both national and state-level data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Overview of US Economy
GDP by industry, GDP by State, Personal Income, International Investment and Trade, from the Bureau of Economic Analysis
Economic Research at the St. Louis Fed
The FRED data service has numerous charts and datasets looking at various parts of the economy.

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

Marketing Research @ Pitt

Consumers and Psychographics

Image by ProjectManhattan, on Wikimedia Commons, CC0.