Market success

Whether you're thinking of starting a new business, or developing your business further, you need a thorough knowledge of the market place.

At the planning stage, you need to arm yourself with essential market information. You need to know about:

• the market you plan to enter and your potential position within it
• market factors out of your control (via an external environment analysis)
• market factors within your control (via an internal environment analysis)
• your customers
• your competitors.

Conducting market research

Market research is a vital step in business process planning. Your business won't succeed unless you know the market your business will operate in.

Market research helps you make decisions about pricing, promotion, your product/service and location for your business. With market research you can:

• understand how your product/service fits your target market
• gain information about how your competitors operate
• assess your customers' needs to make sure you meet them.

Market research and your business plan

After you have conducted market research, you can include the information in your business plan.

This information must:

• identify one or more market segments where your products or services will likely enjoy a sustainable competitive advantage
• substantiate the size of those market segments
• show what percentage you can realistically take from existing competitors
• outline plans to overcome your competitors' reaction to your entry into the market.