These resources give you insight into demographics, market areas and consumers' tastes and preferences.
Data on U.S. consumer attitudes & preferences. All sites can be searched free but full reports are not always freely available.
Market research reports are incredibly expensive, and the libraries don't have the budget resources to purchase individual reports for each student business plan. You can find some full-text reports via Business Source Complete and Factiva.
Otherwise, utilize the secondary data about consumer behavior available through Mintel Academic.