This market covers a large number of gases, the most prominent of them (with market share in parenthesis) being: argon and hydrogen (34.2%); nitrogen (13.5%); Fluorocarbon gases (12.5%); oxygen (10.5%); carbon dioxide (6.3%) and acetylene (1.6%).
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008
Market size: $9.94 billion
Source: Annual Survey of Manufactures, 2008, March 30, 2010 available online here.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census
The market for what is now referred to broadly as “graphic novels” has grown strongly since 2000. Many factors contribute to this growth including such things as an explosive growth in the number of unique book titles published annually, the success of super hero movies, and a growing influence from the comic arts scenes in other countries where it has been a strong cultural outlet. In terms of revenue produced by the sales of these graphic products, market share breaks down by category as follows: comic periodicals, 27.5%; Manga, 12.4%, and other graphic novels, 60.2%.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: 3,162 unique titles and $1.130 billion sales
Source: Publishers Weekly, April 26, 2010, page 12
Original source: ICV2.com
The leading tire producers are companies with names that will likely be familiar to most adults: Goodyear/Dunlop; Michelin/Uniroyal/Goodrich; Bridgestone/Firestone and Continental Tire.
Geographic reference: North America
Year: 2009
Market size: $30 billion
Source: Tire Business, February 15, 2010, page 10
For a brief change of pace, septic systems!
One fifth of all residential housing units in the United States are served by individual, onsite septic systems, including 22% of all housing units less than four years old. In 2007, 50% of all housing units served by such septic systems were in rural areas, 47% in suburban areas and 3% were in central cities according to the U.S. EPA.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1985 and 2007
Market size: Number of housing units respectively: 24.6 million and 26.1 million
Source: Septic Systems Fact Sheet, October 2008, available online here
Original source: United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Wastewater Management
Bicycle sales in 2009 were down sharply from the two prior years in which 18 million units were sold. The United States is the second largest national bicycle market in the world, second to the leader, China. In terms of types of bicycles, mountain bikes are the leading category with 27.8% of the U.S. market. The other bicycle categories and their respective market shares are as follows: Youth, 21.3%; Hybrid/Cross, 20.4%; Road, 14.9%; Comfort, 10.3%, and Cruiser, 3.3%.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: 14.9 million units
Source: “Industry Overview 2009,” 2010
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce and Gluskin Townley Group
Have a nice weekend everyone!
In terms of market share, Europe accounts for just over half of the world premium chocolate market. In terms of per capita consumption of all chocolate, by country, the leaders are: Switzerland with 22.4 pounds, Austria with 20.13 pounds and Ireland with 19.47 pounds. The United States comes in 8th on the list with an average of 11.7 pounds counsumed annually by each American. Please note, however, that these per capita consumption rates are for all chocolate not just premium chocolate. The market size presented below is the size of the premium chocolate market.
Geographic reference: World
Year: 2007
Market size: $6.9 billion
Source: “AROQ’s Global Market Review Series,” November 2008, page 3
Original source: just-food
Europeans eat a lot of chocolate. In fact, the three nations with the highest per capita consumption of chocolate in the world are in Europe: Switzerland, Austria and Ireland. Premium chocolates represent about 12% of the overall chocolate market in Europe.
Geographic reference: Europe
Year: 2007
Market size: $3.8 billion
Source: “AROQ’s Global Market Review Series,” November 2008, page 3
Original source: just-food
Data show the number of Catholic liturgical music publishers in the United States in 2010. Those publishers include GIA Publications, OCP Publications, and World Library Publications, a division of J.S. Paluch.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: 3
Source: Mark Pattison, “Site Lets Liturgical Music Composers Sell Songs Directly to Musicians,” The Michigan Catholic, May 28, 2010, page 26
This market includes all those things that are sold with college and/or university colors and logos on them, as long as they are licensed uses of these logos. Universities that lead the pack in terms of their licensed merchandise sales are Ohio State, University of Michigan, Texas, Michigan State, and Alabama.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $2.2 billion
Source: The Register-Guard, December 27, 2009
The term “functional foods” was first introduced in Japan in the 1980s and refers to processed foods that contain, by design, ingredients that aid specific bodily functions in addition to being nutritious. Some might simply call these processed foods “enriched foods.”
Geographic reference: World
Year: 2008
Market size: $85 billion
Source: AROQ’s Global Market Review Series, October 2009
Original source: just-food
The sale of team specific merchandise is big business. Merchandise is sold for teams at all levels, from pee wee to professional. This market size is based on merchandise for sports of all sorts at the college and university level as well as professional teams. Leading sellers of Major League Baseball merchandise include the New York Yankees (27.5% of the MLB merchandise sales), Boston Red Sox (8.3%), Philadelphia Phillies (8.0%), Chicago Cubs (7.1%), and Detroit Tigers (6.9%).
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $11.5 billion
Source: Detroit News, April 8, 2010
Original source: SportsOneSource
The market is expected to grow as standards of living rise around the world making motorcycles an affordable alternative to bicycles. Continued volatility of prices for gasoline will also favor the sale of motorcycles over automobiles in many markets.
Geographic reference: World
Year: 2008
Market size: 79.2 million units
Source: “World Motorcycles,” August 2009
Original source: Freedonia Group
According to Mintel, analysts divide this market into three major sectors: wet, dry and ethnic. Wet sauces include barbeque sauce, Worcestershire sauce, bottled marinades and gravies. This category represents more than half the market with sales of $1.3 billion. Dry sauces and mixes generated sales of $587 million. Sales of ethnic sauces such as soy and teriyaki are rising. McCormick claimed 50% of the dry mix market.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2007
Market size: $3.3 billion
Source: Prepared Foods, January 2009
Original source: Mintel
The energy it takes to remove the salt from water makes it a process that is hard to do economically except in areas where two things coexist, water shortages and abundant energy resources. Consequently, 65% of desalination plants around the world are in Africa and the Middle East. Plants located in the United States account for 11% of the world desalination market.
Geographic reference: World
Year: 2008
Market size: $8 billion
Source: “World Water Desalination,” July 2009
Original source: Freedonia Group
In 2008, consumer fireworks represented 87% of total consumption with display fireworks the remaining 13%. Have fun celebrating on the 4th!
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008
Market size: $940 million and 213.2 million pounds
Source: “U.S. Fireworks Consumption Figures,” available online here.
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce
The leading types of plastic consumed in the world are polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and high-density ethylene.
Geographic reference: World
Year: 2009
Market size: 178.1 metric tons
Source: Chemical Week, June 8, 2009, page 22
Original source: Chemical Market Associates Inc.
The market sizes listed show the number of shared ownership communities. These communities include condominiums, cooperatives, and homeowners association communities. In 2010, 24 million families and 60 million individuals lived in shared ownership communities. Collectively, these homeowners paid $41 billion in assessments. The rise in number of such communities is an interesting trend for a society that holds individuality in such high esteem.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1965 and 2010
Market size: 1,000 and 300,000 respectively
Source: Steve Bergsman, “Read Fine Print Before Buying Into Community,” Mlive.com, June 25, 2010 available online here.
Dirt bikes are lightweight motorcycles designed for rough terrain and often used in a racing sport called motorcross. The three leading dirt bike manufacturers are all Japanese firms—Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki. The market size is based on unit sales in the years listed.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008 and 2009
Market size: 146,801 and 92,957 bikes respectively
Source: Dealernews, June 2009, page 34
Data show the number of compounding pharmacies in the United States in 2010. Compounding pharmacists mix raw ingredients to prepare customized medications to meet the specific needs of patients. Between 1 and 5 percent of the population needs medications that are not commercially available. For example, compounding pharmacies can prepare gluten-free and lactose-free medications, specialized hormone therapy, or specialized doses of pain medication. Of the 400 compounding pharmacies in the United States, only 76 are nationally accredited by the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board.
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2010
Market size: 400
Source: Rebecca Jones, “Custom Cures,” Wayne State, Spring 2010, page 14. The publication is accessible online here.
Data show predicted revenue for the year 2011. Specialty Pharmacies are a new type of pharmacy category. These firms offer more interactive services and emphasize their status as a health care provider more than a retail outlet. Here is a quote from a press release by Walgreens regarding their new line of Specialty Pharmacies:
“Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy provides personalized care and services through dedicated fulfillment centers across the country and electronically linked Walgreens pharmacies, including locations in academic medical centers, community hospitals and physician office buildings. Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy assists patients in obtaining medications, coordinates insurance benefits and provides individualized therapy management and clinical support. For more information, visit www.walgreenshealth.com/specialty.”
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2011
Market size: $100 billion
Source: Rebecca Jones, “Custom Cures,” Wayne State, Spring 2010, page 13. The publication is accessible online here.
Original source: Walgreens