ASU Libraries: Marketing Resources- Brands and Product Ratings

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Marketing Resources Brands and Product Ratings

Jump to the section on sites just for cars and other motor vehicles.

bizrate.com. Los Angeles: bizrate.com, 1996- .
This web site rates only e-commerce sites and how well they serve their customers. While a large proportion of the shopping sites rated are actually retailers and stores, companies that sell their products directly to the public (such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Insight) are also listed. Ratings are based on customer comments.
Box Office News . Hollywood, CA: A. C. Nielsen EDI, Inc., 1999- .
This electronic newsletter keeps track of the opening and top films, movie theaters, studios, and regional and seasonal differences as rated by the box office ticket sales. The website also has a page for the Academy Awards Guide with analysis of likely winners.
Consumer Product and Manufacturer Ratings, 1961-1990. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1993.
This is a comprehensive work to ratings of companies by their positioning in Australia, Europe, Japan and the United States. The three types of position are quality, price, and value. This work is arranged by industry and then product groups. Under each product is an alphabetical list by Brand/Company Name. The best way to use this work is by first reading the "User's Guide" in the front of Volume 1.
Consumer Reports. Mt. Vernon, NY: Consumers Union, 1936- . (ASU owns 1936- .)
This is the magazine used by consumers to review the quality of appliances and cars before they buy. The magazine also covers such items as frozen foods, pharmaceuticals, leisure products, etc. The April issue is the car issue.
ConsumerReview.com. Santa Clara, CA: ConsumerREVIEW, Inc., 1996- .
Somewhat different that the other product review, rating, and shopping web sites, this states as its mission as "to provide consumers the opportunity to review and learn about the products they use, as well as have a forum to interact with people who share a common interest in a hobby or recreational activity." This site also has more links to helpful buying and user guides than many other similar sites. Professional reviews are clearly separated from consumer ratings and reviews.
Dworsky, Edgar. Consumer World. Boston: Consumer World, 1995- .
This is an incredible site. It is more comprehensive than Consumer Reports in the breadth consumer information offered. The author is an attorney and consumer advocate/educator who is always looking out for consumer fraud. In addition to providing links to product ratings, there are extensive links to consumer resources, consumer agencies, consumer rights, consumer booklets, consumer news, etc. I particularly like the links to lesser known pages like the Lemon Check for CarFax's free used car histories. This is a good jumping point if you haven't found what you wanted on the other rating sites.
Deja.com. New York: Deja.com, Inc., 1995- .
Very similar to other rating and shopping guides except that this also includes reviews and ratings of companies within an industry, magazines and newsletters, organizations, politics, TV News shows, and other unexpected areas. The ratings are shown in charts with specific characteristics or features rated. Ratings are done by professionals and by consumer voting.
Jorgenson, Janice. Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands. Detroit: Gale, 1994.
This three volume work provides a history and discussion of the development, including line extensions, of well known brands. Samples of the trademarks and logo changes are often included. A great overview for the brand names included.
Epinions.com. Mountain View, CA: Epinions, Inc., 1999- .
This web site "hosts a comprehensive listing of consumer opinions and reviews for thousands of products. The Service provides a forum for members to post their opinions and critical evaluations of products and services ("Reviews") and for consumers to receive free expert advice before making their purchasing decisions." The opinions are as reliable as any word of mouth recommendation -- some are very good, some are not.
Nielsen//Netratings Hot off the Net. New York/Milpitas, CA: Nielsen Media//Netratings, 1999- .
This free online newsletter has the weekly and monthly top ten web sites, banner ads, advertisers, and web usage information.
Neilsen TV News & Ratings on Zap2it.com TV. Santa Monica, CA: Zap2it.com TV/Tribune Media Services/Nielsen Media Research, 1997- .
This service is a selection of frequently asked for Nielsen ratings of TV shows. The categories included are Sports, Cable, Syndicated, and Daily Shows plus the Season-to-Date Ratings. The page has the current week's ratings. Archives of weekly ratings back to 1997 are available. This is the national ratings only, at this time. Plans are to expand this service in the future, but there may be a fee for more detail than what is provided now. Selected detailed demographic and geographic profiles for Nielsens is kept on Hayden Reserve. To know more about what we own of these reports see the Nielsen's entry on the Consumers, Polls, & Market Data page.
Product Review Net. Worcester, MA: Rain Corp, 1996- .
This is a free online index and abstract to product review information from all the publications and web sites monitored by the company. The reviews are both those published in magazines and journals and written by users of this service. While designed for those trying to decide which model and brand of an item to buy, it does quickly find product review articles for you.

CARS and Other Motor Vehicles
CARFAX Vehicle History Reports. Carfax, 2000 - .
An interesting web site of a company that collects information on vehicles that have been in floods, salvaged, have odometer reading reports, state licensing information, accident reports, etc. You can purchase a complete history, but most folks use the free LEMON REPORT, free RECALL CHECK, and the free FLOOD CHECK. All reports are generated using the VIN (vehicle identification number) of the vehicle. This site has extensive links to other useful sites for those wanting to buy or sell cars.
Deja.com/Automobiles. New York: Deja.com Inc., 1995- .
A subsection of the Deja.com site devoted to providing consumer with information before they buy. This is devoted to vehicles and their parts. This rates the web sites that are linked in each subsection of this industry. A very thorough site.
Edmunds.com: Where smart car buyers start. Santa Monica, CA: Edmund Publications, 1998- .
Dedicated to the prices of new and used cars and trucks, the added features include road tests, crash test results, recalls, etc. This supplements what is found in the April issue of Consumer Reports.
Kelley Blue Book. Irvine, CA : Kelley Blue Book Co., 1995- .
Kelley Blue Book Auto Market Report. Western edition. Irvine, Calif. : Kelley Blue Book Co., 1926- . (ASU owns 1981- . Current edition in Reserve; earlier editions in Journals.)
First listed is the web site of those standard blue books of the value of cars, trucks and motorcyles. It allows a search for the current value of one vehicle with one set of specifications at a time. The second item listed is the paper edition received and archived in the Hayden Library. The book can be more useful for quickly checking a variety of options on vehicles, or using the older editons of the work for historical valuations. The web site is very popular with car buyers not only because of the valuation search option, but also for all the other car buyer helpful information, reviews of models, and links to related sites.

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