Poor man's market research
November 20, 2025
by a searcher from Gonzaga University in Bend, OR, USA
I’ve been experimenting with what I call “poor man’s market research.” I wanted to understand the market size and stability for our Med Spa in Bend, OR.
Here’s the process:
1. Grabbed a couple of industry reports for the national anchors (more credible the better here) — total spend, CAGR, average ticket, participation rates. Enough to understand the broader space.
2. Pulled the demographic flyers from a few commercial listings in Bend. Every broker packet typically has the area’s population, household income, education, age mix, projected growth, etc.
3. Ten-minute Google Maps sweep → competitor count + quick read on who looks strong vs. new vs. struggling.
Then I dumped all the PDFs + the competitor list into ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity and asked each to build me a TAM → SAM → SOM for Bend specifically. TAM being a 15 mile radius around Bend, OR then working top down to SAM and SOM.
Compared the three outputs, pushed back on the assumptions that felt off, iterated a bit, and landed on a blended number that felt realistic.
It’s obviously not perfect but I think it’s a good “finger on the pulse”. Below link is where I ended up for our market scale and stability analysis.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-7uOiozljZFOgLiGxHH_ijPKMNH24UCPMVcM48LnRQM/edit?usp=sharing
Curious what folks think. Does this feel directionally credible as a first-pass? Or is it way off?
from Emory University in Tucson, AZ, USA
from Southern Oregon University in Portland, OR, USA