Understanding National Lending Trends and Local Markets: The Role of Market Research

When FIELD convened several leading microlenders to share findings from a market scan of trends in the supply-side of microenterprise financing, it became clear that some of the national trends uncovered by the study were playing out in different ways in local markets. For example, microentrepreneurs' interest in and access to credit cards varied across different populations, based largely on their credit histories. Similarly, while some microlenders were experiencing competition from banks using the Community Express program, the level of competition varied dramatically from state to state, and was most common in urban areas.

Thus, to help microlenders better understand and respond to such trends, FIELD made small funding awards to five microlenders interested in using market research to more fully explore specific aspects of the findings identified in the market scan. The five microlenders were: ACCION New York, Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), ACCION New Mexico, BiGAUSTIN and ACCION USA. Their research techniques included customer surveys, focus groups with bankers and customers, Web-based research and interviews with local bankers.

The results are summarized in FIELD forum Issue 18, Understanding National Lending Trends and Local Markets: The Role of Market Research, available here.

Also available are copies of market research tools developed and used in these efforts:

• ACCION New York's focus group discussion guide and participant survey; used with new immigrants.
• WWBIC's focus group guide, used with local bankers.
• WWBIC's interview guide, used with local bankers.
• ACCION USA's customer survey, used with on-line loan applicants.
• ACCION New Mexico's customer survey of client repayment attitudes, used with loan clients.