What Chinese research firms have to offer
Jinfo Blog

10th July 2008

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Having mentioned earlier several promising research aggregators in China (www.vivavip.com/go/e6365), I thought to take a closer look at one (or perhaps more later) specialized Chinese research firm this time: iResearch Consulting Group (www.iresearch.cn and limited content at http://english.iresearch.com.cn) was established in 2002 with headquarters in Shanghai. It specializes in Chinese domestic market research in the new economy, in particular, the Internet and related industries. As a leading specialized market information provider, iResearch serves primarily the industry decision-makers with news briefings, trend tracking, executive and company profiles, industry events, and of course in-depth research reports. According to its Website, as of August 2007 iResearch had issued 420 industry reports through its iDataCenter, among which over 150 reports for fees. In the first five years of its business iReserch released more than 7300 free industry charts and tables. Currently it adds over 100 new reports and more than 3000 charts per year. iResearch’s industry reports are available in about 20 vertical categories covering major segments from online gaming to Web 2.0. Each segment is presented in the following sections: - iResearch View Point provides snapshots of the segment landscape in China , trends and brief analysis. Each usually contains one or two charts or tables. - Industry Data is a section containing global, not only Chinese, industry news, most often with quantitative information and visually well presented charts or tables. - Fee-based reports: These are in-depth research reports usually containing extensive primary market data, demographics, competitive analysis, key drivers and development forecasts. From content to presentation to pricing these seem to be competitive products in the premium research market, especially for those who are privileged to use resources directly in Chinese. - Free reports: Many are abbreviated versions of the fee-based reports. Nevertheless these free reports often contain useful charts and tables. The company’s time series data services are supported by a series of Internet tracking solutions including iAdTracker, iUserTracker and iBrandChoice, etc. In less than six years iAdTracker has collected information of nearly ten thousand advertisers and detailed records of over 3 million advertisements. iUserTracker tracks Internet user behaviors similar to what Nielsen/NetRatings does (www.nielsennetratings.com), meanwhile iBrandChoice tracks online consumer preferences for durable and non-durable brand products. The number of Chinese netizens and their time spent online have increased dramaticaly in recent years (http://chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2008-07/10/content_6834646.htm). No doubt that research services such as iResearch’s are rich sources for competitive intelligence in such a huge market.

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