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When working on product strategy, we typically focus on market trends, consumer insights, and user behaviors. However, I’ve recently learned, especially after experiencing economic turbulence and trying to identify demand for new products, that there’s one factor beyond the influence of product-level efforts: the macroeconomy. The macroeconomy indicates the direction of demand flow and the potential for growth in an industry. A product, no matter how well-promoted, cannot defy macroeconomic trends. But this also means we can leverage these trends to our advantage.
So today, I want to share 4 databases that I have found helpful. While some are based in the US, I believe you can find similar datasets or resources in other countries.
#1 Advance Estimates of U.S. Retail and Food Services
This is my favorite dataset recently, referred to as ‘marts’, and is included in the US Census Bureau. It can be found on the Census Bureau’s official website under /retail/sales. It includes sales data in various retail sectors across the United States from 1992 to the present.
