RESOURCES
Resources - Compare and Contrast Target Markets
Every market channel has different needs. Each one requires a different set of strategies. Market channels that work well for producers in one area may not be appropriate for your business, or may not be good choices in your region due to distance or other barriers. Here are resources to learn more about the different markets, and a worksheet to lay out the pros and cons to make your decision.
This resource from OMAFRA provides a good overview of all the possible marketing channels, including chain stores and the broader public sector (universities, public institutions, and hospitals) with consideration of the cost of doing business with different channels.
Menu Selling Food to Ontario: This file provides a list of relevant workshops offered by OMAFRA.
Alberta factsheet: Selling Local Food Directly to Institutions and Schools
Alberta factsheet: Selling Local Food Directly to Food Service and Hospitality
Resources: Market Research
Canada’s Growing Appetite for Local Food: the Conference Board of Canada conducted this study on the market for local food in Canada.
The Census of Agriculture has a lot of useful information on food and farming trends.
The Community Health Survey has some information on trends in eating as well.
Internet searches can find many polls and surveys about food and agriculture. Check the source to confirm their status as objective and unbiased in their survey methods. University research is likely to be objective and scientifically assessed for accuracy in methods and results. Polls that are sponsored by private companies may have specific agendas that show in the type of question and the conclusions that are drawn. Surveys that are not professional can be skewed by the design of the questions and choices, so it is good to check the methods before relying on a survey or poll. Another question to ask is whether the area surveyed is relevant to your work; there are many surveys available about U.S. food and agriculture, but you must be cautious in applying these to the Canadian context.
Peggy Baillie describes a step-by-step procedure for simple and effective market research.
In this video, Peggy Baillie describes a step-by-step procedure for simple and effective market research. Several worksheets accompany this video so that you can develop your own market research; you may not want to use them all, they are offered as options that can be customized to fit your business needs. The worksheets include basic market research questions, and a prioritization chart to help your team make final decisions on new products.
As you develop your market research, you will need to answer these questions:
- What do I need to know?
- Who has this information?
- How will I approach them?
- What are questions I will ask or explore?
Retail Market Survey template Click to view PDF.
Retail Market Research SWOT- Click to view PDF.
Consumer Survey - Click to view PDF.
Prioritization chart template. Click to view PDF.
Survey Monkey: this platform offers basic survey development and analysis for free, and more complex tools at a reasonable cost.
Google Forms is also a free platform that can be used to generate online surveys. However, virtual data gathering probably cannot replace talking to potential customers and buyers to find out what they like and how they want to access their products.
