Companies make use of perceptual mapping or positioning maps in order to help them to put together a market positioning strategy for their product or service. As the maps are built on the perception of the buyer, these are sometimes called perceptual maps. Positioning maps show where current products and services are positioned in the market so that the firm is able to decide where they would like to place (position) their product.
Companies have two options:
- They are able to either position their product so that it fulfils a gap in the market, or
- If they would like to compete versus their competitors they are able to position it where existing products have placed their product.
What Are The Attributes Of A Perceptual Mapping?
Usually, a simple perceptual map is a two-dimensional graph with a vertical axis as well as a horizontal axis. Each of the axes has a couple of opposite attributes at each of the ends of the axis.
For instance, if the perceptual map is looking at cars, the vertical axis could have a luxury car at one end with an economy car at the other. The horizontal axis could have “family-oriented” at one end with “sporty” at the other end. Each of the cars is then plotted on the graph based on how consumers see the car relative to those attributes.
Perceptual maps may have more than two dimensions. This lets a business compare additional pairs of attributes. Utilising more than two dimensions for perceptual mapping is also termed multidimensional scaling.
Although these maps can turn out to be quite complex and difficult to understand, they can also potentially offer more useful information.
