Perceptual Mapping
What is Perceptual Mapping?
Perceptual mapping has been used as a strategic management tool for about thirty years. It offers a unique ability to communicate the complex relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by buyers in making purchase decisions and recommendations. Its powerful graphic simplicity appeals to senior management and can stimulate discussion and strategic thinking at all levels of all types of organizations.
Perceptual mapping can be used to plot the interrelationships of consumer products, industrial goods, institutions, as well as populations.Virtually any subjects that can be rated on a range of attributes can be mapped to show their relative positions in relation both to other subjects as well as to the evaluative attributes. Perceptual maps may be used for market segmentation, concept development and evaluation, and tracking changes in marketplace perceptions among other uses.
What are the marketing applications of Perceptual Mapping?
Perceptual maps provide valuable insights for a number of marketing decisions. Some major applications include :
a) Market Description and Segmentation
Perceptual maps identify which products, companies or services compete in a market. Maps provide a clear description of the structure of a market and suggest possible segmentation strategies.
b) Identifying Product Weaknesses
Maps show how products are viewed or rated on specific attributes or dimensions. Analysis of maps can identify weaknesses on attributes and suggest new advertising and positioning strategies.
c) Concept Development and Evaluation
Proposed new product concepts can be developed and evaluated by examining how they stack up against existing products.
d) Tracking Consumer Perceptions
Perceptual mapping is an ideal way to track shifts in consumer perceptions of products or services over time.
e) Identifying Differences Among Groups
Companies often want to determine whether distinct groups of people (i.e., users vs. non-users, men vs. women) perceive their products differently. Perceptual mapping is an excellent way to determine whether differences exist between perceptions of different groups.
The Process of Perceptual Mapping
Mapping of satisfaction levels among consumers in different stores such as clothing, shoes, stationery, appliances, electronics and grocery
Tool Used :
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| PERMAP 11.6e |
Step 1 : Open file 'Retail.sav' in SPSS. Now, to map the stores we need to find the mean value of stores and their attributes.
Step 2 : Go to - Analyze --> Table -->Custom Table, then drag the variable 'Store' after converting it into nominal scale, into the row option on the right side. Then drag and drop the various satisfaction attributes into the columns option.
Step 3 : Copy and paste the above table to MS Excel. Then copy the values as such into a notepad file and type the PERMAP compatible syntax
Step 4 : Open PERMAP and load the notepad file. Then click on 'Start', this will give us the Objective Function Value of the stores. Now go to Map Evaluation --> Attributes, and check the option of 'All Active Vectors'. We can interpret that price (1) & variety (2) as well as service (4) & overall satisfaction (6) are highly correlated. So, in order to increase the overall satisfaction we need to concentrate on service satisfaction attribute.
Interpretation : The stores which are closer to the arrow head have higher levels of satisfaction among consumers and vice-versa for the stores closer to the tail end. The length of the attribute line also differentiates between the stores. A longer attribute line shows that the stores are viewed very differently on that characteristic. The angle between attribute lines also contain important information. A small angle between lines indicates that these attributes are highly related.
To further narrow down the analysis, we start subtracting the individual active vectors like price, variety, etc. by double clicking on the box on the left-hand bottom of PERMAP. This is done to check how the various attributes affect the consumers perception of the respective stores which are under analysis.
An Example of an Interpretation
From the above mapping we can interpret that grocery stores have the highest level of variety and quality satisfaction among respondents, while clothing has the least. Consumers are indifferent to the variety and quality of appliance and stationery stores.
As we can see, the angle between attribute lines quality and variety is large. therefore we can conclude that they are not highly related.
Perceptual mapping / Market mapping is a diagrammatic technique used by asset marketers that attempts to visually display the perceptions of customers or potential customers. The positioning of a brand is influenced by customer perceptions rather than by those of businesses. You can draw perceptual maps with this perceptual map template freely provided by Creately.
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