Part 3 a Once a potential growth opportunity has been identified on a perceptual map, more information must be collected

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Part 3 A Once A Potential Growth Opportunity Has Been Identified On A Perceptual Map More Information Must Be Collected 1 (219.66 KiB) Viewed 32 times

Part 3 a Once a potential growth opportunity has been identified on a perceptual map, more information must be collected. It is possible that there are no existing products in a particular area of a perceptual map for good reason. It may be that there are no products in that product space because there is not a viable market for that type of product. For example, in looking at the armchair example, one sees a potential opportunity in the space that could be described as an extremely “Realistic” design. However, whereas that type of armchair could certainly be marketed, the demand for the chair may be so low that there is no real opportunity there. In other words, it is possible that there is no existing armchair design in that area of the map simply because there is not sufficient demand for that type of armchair; no one wants an armchair that is extremely “Realistic” in design. When assessing an opportunity on a perceptual map, one must evaluate whether sufficient consumer demand exists for a product that would fill the product space indicated by the potential opportunity.

In the beer example used at the start of this case, let's imagine that the marketer asks one specific consumer the following questions: 8 With regard to beer, my ideal product would be: (On a scale of 1-10, where l = not at all, and 10 = perfectly describes). High priced: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 not at all perfectly describes Light: 1 2 6 7 9 10 HH perfectly describes 3 4 5 8 not at all (Please note that whereas it is tempting to make assumptions about ideal points, this can often get a marketer into trouble. For example, in the above, it may seem obvious that a consumer would want a beer that is "not at all" high priced. However, in reality there are many consumers who prefer to drink a high priced beer for the status that it confers.) If, in this overly simplified beer example, this one specific consumer answered 2 to the “high priced" question and 9 to the "light" question, that specific consumer's "Ideal Point” (symbolized by *I*) could be plotted on the map as follows: high priced A not light light с B *I* low priced It appears that this one specific consumer's ideal (*1*) is not being met by any of the existing brands of beer (brands A, B, or C). This may indicate a market opportunity if, and only if, a

sufficient number of consumers share that one specific consumer's "Ideal Point,” thus making the demand for a new beer (that addresses this ideal point) large enough to be profitable. In other words, if this one specific consumer's ideal with regard to beer is only shared by a few other target consumers, the opportunity may not be viable, since the demand would not be great enough to warrant the development of a new product. On the other hand, if there are a large number of target consumers who share that vision of the ideal beer, it may be profitable to develop a new product that meets their needs. By surveying a large number of target consumers about their ideals with regard to a product category, one can begin to see the different clusters of consumer demand that exist. This is, in effect, a way of segmenting consumers by benefits sought. Typically, there are segments of consumers with similar ideal points forming clusters. These clusters, or consumer segments, are plotted in different parts of the map to indicate the location of each segment's ideal point. In some product categories, all consumer ideal points are very similar, resulting in one large cluster at a specific point on the map. But for most product categories, different segments of consumers possess quite different ideal points-if this were not the case, we would all drive the same car! The size of each cluster depicted on the map is used to indicate the relative size of that consumer segment. A map that represents many ideal point clusters, or consumer segments, is called a preference map. A hypothetical preference map for the beer example is shown below: high priced not light light low priced If we compare the perceptual map and the preference map for the beer example, we can see how consumer perceptions of existing beer brands on these two attributes match up with various consumer segments' ideal points with regard to those attributes. We also have a visual representation of the relative size of each cluster/consumer segment.

Given this very simplified beer example, please answer the following questions: 1. As brand manager for Brand A beer, which competitor, Brand B or Brand C, is your closest competitor? 2. As brand manager for Brand A beer, what opportunities and threats do you see highlighted by the perceptual and preference maps? 3. What else have you learned from the two maps?