Capital West Advisors portrays the importance of a strong Market section in a business plan.

The Market section of a business plan should include the following: A comprehensive market analysis that described the sales figures, information, and trends in the region (s) that the business will target, a target market analysis that analyzes the entire potential B2C market and/or B2B market, A thorough and detailed profile of direct competitors, a competitive analysis, demographic information (if there is a B2C element) and industry analysis. It is important that whoever develops the business plan has great access to comprehensive and professional market research reports that highlight key information, figures, trends, and market segment information & figures, according to industry experts.

The profile of direct competitors should profile the competing players within the industry that are targeting the same market that you will be targeting with a similar or same product or service. The competitive analysis should give a more macroscopic perspective of the industry in terms of the key players within the industry and number of players, and trend of companies to focus on particular products or services. The competitive strategy should take into account all of the market demand (sales figures & growth) and market supply (competition and sophistication of the key market players) and is critical to developing the competitive strategy and marketing strategy of your business model. Demographic information should take into account key demographic information of the target consumer profile, which would include age, gender, income, personal habits.
It is upon preference whether you elect to integrate the marketing plan (marketing overview, strategy, methods, and examples) within the Market section, but Capital West Advisors prefers to keep these 2 as separate sections.