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The first thing you need to describe in the market research section of your business plan is your target market. Will your customers be retail customers, wholesale customers, or both? Retail is where you sell directly to the consumer. Wholesale means that you sell your products to businesses that resell your products to their consumers. (For more information on retail and wholesale customers, see Chapter 9.) Why have you targeted this area of consumer?

Discuss what market research you have done and break it into primary and secondary categories. Primary research is the work that you have done to gather information, such as doing informal surveys of potential customers or visiting stores to see what your potential competition is doing. Use your notes — add dates and list the places you visited — to show that you really have done the research.

Secondary research includes looking at materials and data that have been collected by others. Places to look for this information include libraries, trade associations, and local business groups. List anything else that you’ve done, such as looking through the phone book for potential competitors, searching the Internet, reading magazines, and studying this book. If you have a subscription to a trade magazine, add that here as well.

In this section, you may also talk about your potential competition. Include information about who they are, what they sell, and what makes your products different. What sets you apart? Be as specific as possible.