Overview
A product is nothing without a market.  Regardless of how novel a product or service is, there must be a way to turn the need it satisfies into revenues.  The Enterprise section describes the need a venture's products or services satisfy and how a company is uniquely suited to deliver its offerings.  The Market section supports the ability and willingness of an outside party, a customer, to pay for the product.  It also addresses how the company will make targets aware and interested in the product and how this interest will be converted into action.

The Industry
This component should give a background or an overview of the industry and segments that your product competes in.  A brief history of the market should be followed by trends that support management's, and outside analyst's, assertions that the market will grow significantly in the near future.

Market Size and Growth Rate
The market size and growth rate are natural compliments of an industry description.  Often a company's offerings compete in more than one market.  For instance, a company that provides a system integration application will likely deliver consulting services.  In such cases, it is essential that the size and growth rates for the services market be separately noted from the size and growth projections for the product market. 

Target Market
After the size and rate of growth in the market have been addressed, the next step in a business plan is often to quantify and describe the segment, or segments, of the market that your product or service is targeted towards.  This includes noting how many prospects there are, what they want and need, and any trends projected to drive their purchasing patterns in the future.

The Competition
How competitor analysis is presented in a business plan should be a function of the type of market a venture competes in and the life cycle of its product.  In some cases, a side-by-side table listing key attributes of competitors is appropriate.  In other cases, a thorough description of broad competitor classes is more informative.

Sales Approach
For products or services that rely primarily on personal (face to face) selling, a summary of how these efforts will be directed should be included in a business plan.  In cases where outside channels of distribution are expected to play a significant role, a separate component of the market section should be included to explain what the channels are and how they will interact with the company.

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