Marketing Research Paper
slbrown
positioning_presentation.pptxPRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
PERCEPTUAL MAP
Introduction
A perceptual map gives us the place a product occupies in consumer’s minds relative to the competitors’ words.
According to Kotler & Kevin (2006), the consumers position products with or without and marketers should therefore not leave their products position to chance.
This presentation presents the perceptual map in the automobile industry for BMW.
Therefore, the target market here is vehicle users and most specifically, the consumers who are mostly looking out for performance of a vehicle.
The target market variables
The market variables assist in segmenting a market which eventually causes the marketer to choose the target market.
The marketer then uses these market variables alone, and in combination.
In regards to my target market, the marketing variables are herein outlined.
The geographic variables will relate to the geographical units and BMW users are mostly located in the cities according to surveys.
Psychographic variables include personality, lifestyle and social class. My target market is mostly comprised of consumers who live prestigiously and thus the high social class in the society.
Continued
As for the demographic variables, several factors are addressed such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, family size and life cycle, the level of education and generation among others.
Our target market here are mostly attributed to middle age and above, mostly male but a few females, highly learned people and also, mostly the Whites.
Finally, the behavioural variables classify the consumers into groups depending on their usage rate and user status.
The target market in discussion are potential users especially with the renown good performance of the vehicle and the past record by earlier users.
Tracing the Perceptual Map- Product Attributes
Among the most critical attributes for the BMW vehicle, I have picked the following:
Performance
Engine type
Assembly type
The economy
Comfort
Functional work of art
My perceptual map will employ the use of two major attributes, that is, performance and the economy.
Tracing the Perceptual Map- The product competitors
The following form the list of the competitors for the BMW vehicle:
Mercedes
Cadillac
Subaru
Volvo
Audi
Honda
Toyota
The Perceptual Map
Discussion on the perceptual map
With reference to data collected from the automobile industry, it was easier to position each of the competitors in their strategic positions.
The Mercedes and Cadillac are generally high performance cars and closely followed by the Subaru and later the Toyota. On the lower category is the Audi, Honda and Volvo.
Economically, the ones on the higher end begin with the Mercedes followed by the Subaru and Volvo, then Honda, Audi and Toyota.
All the represented rankings are give an insight into what the customers have in mind about these specific vehicles as the automobile have it depending on the sales by their consumers.
Conclusion
First, as a marketer it always safer and better to establish who is the most competitive competitor before seeking to gain the most favourable competitive edge.
By so doing, the marketer will seek to keep up or even do better than this competitor to achieve a better positioning in the minds of the consumers better than the others.
A perfect example would be organising frequent motor shows to bring to the consumers the new additives in the industry.
Also, a deeper consideration in the economic perspective could be of help such as looking out for the young professionals by making it affordable for them to penetrate the market even better.
According to Thomas (2011), it is only with the help of a perceptual map that a company is able to address its consumers in the most efficient manner.
References
Kotler, P. & Kevin, L. K. (2006). What is segmentation? Marketing Management. Prentice Hall.
Thomas, J. H. (2011). New Strategies in Higher Education Marketing. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, New York & London.
Performance
HIGH
Mercedes 1 Cadillac
Subaru 2
HIGH Toyota LOW
1 2 3 4 5 Economy
Audi
4 Honda
Volvo 5
LOW
