IBIS World Reports: Accuracy and Filtering Options

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by a searcher from University of California, Los Angeles - UCLA Anderson School of Management
in Madrid, Spain

3yrs ago

IBIS World Reports: Accuracy and Filtering Options

Hey there SF community!

I am very grateful that we have the IBIS World reports for free on SF, thank you for that guys.

Many of you SFers have gone on to research some of these industries in great depth, I would love to know:
- How accurate have you found the IBIS World reports vs the on-the-ground reality? I would think that the larger operators (not SF acquisition candidates) skew some of the figures, but it's just a guess.
- What are the most and least useful things you've found on these reports, and what adjustments do you think should be made to make them more representative for us SMB folks?

Potentially dumb question, but is there a way to filter industry reports by, say, profit margins? If there isn't I would be happy to scrape the data from the reports and share it with SF so that filters can be added to the site.

Lastly, a more generic and ample question: how are you guys approaching the narrowing down of industries? Do you build scorecards based on IBIS World reports, and then go deeper into the pre-qualified industries? What other resources do you recommend for this purpose?

Thank you very much, everybody. This community is a huge motivation to embark on this path.

P.S. Will be at the HBS conference in a couple weeks, would love to connect with other people in the community.

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reply by a searcher 3yrs ago
from Hofstra University in New York, NY, USA

Reports are valuable but depending upon the industry the figures can be skewed.

Industries with many small companies create distorted figures.

I would use IBIS as a starting point but definitely consult those active within the industry for further insight.

Would be nice if they provided insight on the types (small/mid/upper market) of companies used in their reports and sample size for each type.

reply by a searcher 3yrs ago
from University of California, Los Angeles in Madrid, Spain

Thanks Matt. Yes, that makes total sense. Very happy to hear from Victoria that Ibis is bringing in company size-segmented reports in the coming weeks!