CHAPTER 4, LESSON 2: POSITIONING MAPS

POSITIONING MAP (PERCEPTUAL MAP)

• A graphical tool that provides a picture of how consumers perceive the different products
in a given industry
• A visualization of the consumers’ perceptions rather than of actual reality
• Very useful as an analytical tool for determining direct competition and product
distinctiveness
• The visual diagram helps marketers in coming up with the appropriate positioning
strategy, which may involve developing new competitive advantages or optimizing
existing ones.
How to create a Positioning Map
1. Define the consumer needs that they would like to understand and develop a market
scope for the analysis.
2. Price and the benefit that will be used in the mapping need to be defined, for instance,
the price can be the retail or wholesale price of the different products. The primary
benefit can be the quality, features, and serviceability among other parameters.
3. The different products covered would then be analyzed and placed in their rightful
places (quadrants) based on how they combine/relate to the price and the primary
product benefit
How Positioning Maps Are Constructed (Reference Book)
• created by first conducting a survey among a sample of target consumers, asking them
questions about the different brands in an industry and asking the respondents to rate
these brands via a Likert scale which looks like this:

Which Attributes Should Be Logged onto Each Axis of a Positioning Map?

• ANSWER: It pretty much depends on what attributes are deemed to be essential for the
market. Attribute ranges such as luxury or economy, masculine or feminine, young or
adult, conservative or stylish, and classic or modern are some common examples.
Two-Dimensional Positions of Products Based on Their Market Coverage

POSITIONING MAP can show market gaps—empty spaces on the map that can be considered
as opportunities for new product propositions.