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The UGA SBDC has used the reference service ReferenceUSA for a number of years. It has proven time and time again what a useful resource it is for SBDC clients and communities. The SBDC’s current subscription to Reference USA includes the following business databases: U.S. Businesses, U.S. Historical Businesses, and U.S. Job/Internships. The SBDC also has access to two consumer databases: U.S. Standard White Pages and U.S. Consumers/Lifestyles.
The most popular database is the U.S. Businesses. Currently, the database contains a total of 44 million business records including 16 million verified and 28 million unverified businesses that are updated monthly. It is the only business database that is enhanced with more than 24 million phone calls per year providing the most accurate data possible. Among many, the selection criteria include: SIC and NAICS code, geography, company name, business type, sales volume, employee size, and year established.
The U.S. Historical Businesses database contains 150 million records dating back to 2003. You can find businesses by geography, sales volume and employment size. You can also do an advanced search by year or specific time frames. This is perfect for business trends reporting and overall industry market research by year.
The U.S. Consumer/Lifestyles database has over 262 million U.S. consumers that clients can use to conduct market research. The consumer records in this database are continually updated and processed against the USPS National Change of Address (NCOA) and Delivery Sequence File (DSF). Among many, the selection criteria include: name, address, median home value and income.
ReferenceUSA offers users several ways of displaying their record search results. A relatively new feature is the Heat Map option. This is a great feature to display the density of the search records. For example, a client would like to start a takeout delivery business in Athens. The client knows that they need to find a business location close to a large concentration of restaurants. They come to ReferenceUSA for help to determine where the restaurant clusters are. In the heat map image, the high density of restaurants can be seen in the downtown area, and in spotty areas along the Hwy 78 corridor. Now the client can make an educated decision in where to locate their takeout delivery business to be the most efficient in delivery times and fuel costs.
The heat map option for the business databases can be generated by location, sales volume, and number of employees. For the consumer databases, you ReferenceUSA from front page can generate a heat map by location, home income or value. Also, while viewing the heat map in ReferenceUSA, you can zoom in to click on individual records to find out more information about the record.
Another feature for viewing your search results in ReferenceUSA is the Data Summary option. You can display the business results by SIC and NAICS code, sales volume, and employee size. You can also further break down the results by different geographies. In the consumer databases you can break down your results by estimated home value or income and by geography.
Looking for a quick way to display your results in a chart? ReferenceUSA gives you the option to chart your business search results by geography, sales volume, and employee size. The consumer databases chart options include the estimated home value or income and by geography.
Contact your local UGA SBDC office to see how ReferenceUSA can help your business. Or, visit our Applied Research page for more information.
