Targeting and positioning

The second and third phases of market segmentation – targeting and positioning – present a framework for selecting both target markets and opportunities to pursue with an appropriate positioning strategy. (Dibb, Ferrell, Simkin, & Pride, 2012)

Marketers are aware that brands should be positioned based on the expectations and wants of their consumers. In order for them to research this, a questionnaire can be utilized.

Short Questionnaire

Name: ____________

Q1. What is your age? _______                     Gender:                       □ Male    □ Female

Q2. Rate the following attributes (1 to 3) based on their importance when purchasing soft drinks. (1 being most important and 3 being least important.

___ Availability                        ___ Price                     ___ Taste

*To answer the following, use this symbol: ü

Q3. Please rate the following soft drink brands on how much you have heard about them.

	Barely heard of them		Know something about them		Heard of them frequently
Coca-Cola	□	□	□	□	□
Pepsi	□	□	□	□	□
Fanta	□	□	□	□	□
Spa	□	□	□	□	□

Q4. Please rate the following soft drink brands based on availability.

	Never available		Sometimes available		Always available
Coca-Cola	□	□	□	□	□
Pepsi	□	□	□	□	□
Fanta	□	□	□	□	□
Spa	□	□	□	□	□

Q5. Please rate the following soft drink brands based on price.

	Very cheap		Affordable		Very expensive
Coca-Cola	□	□	□	□	□
Pepsi	□	□	□	□	□
Fanta	□	□	□	□	□
Spa	□	□	□	□	□

Q6. Please rate the following soft drink brands based on taste.

	Poor				Good
Coca-Cola	□	□	□	□	□
Pepsi	□	□	□	□	□
Fanta	□	□	□	□	□
Spa	□	□	□	□	□

Three people have been interviewed and their answers can be found at the end of this report. The information gathered is then turned into a perceptual map in order to visually depict consumer perceptions and prioritizing of brands and their perceived attributes.

According to the interviewees, taste and price are the top two attributes they always consider when purchasing soft drinks. These will then be the dimensions of the perceptual map. Furthermore, the size of the circles will depend on market share. All other data used can be found in the scoreboard at the end of this report.

Figure 1: Own perceptual map

It is evident in the positioning map to the left that some of the brands (Pepsi, Spa and Coca-Cola) overlap. There is less differentiation among the brands as there were only 3 people interviewed. More set of answers, say from 100 people, will yield different results. However, if we assume that this perceptual map represented the whole market for soft drinks then we can come to the conclusion that Coca-Cola is positioned as the most expensive brand, with taste that is better than average. Coca-Cola may then use this information in order to improve the taste of the product and/or lower the price.

Other perceptual maps made through different research have also been done. They focus on other characteristics such as the strength of caffeine, amount of sugar, and how modern/traditional the brands are.

Bibliography

Dibb, S., Ferrell, O., Simkin, L., & Pride, M. (2012). Marketing Concepts & Strategies (6th ed.). Cengage Learning EMEA.

Euromonitor. (2016, February 12). Soft Drinks in the Netherlands. Retrieved November 30, 2016, from Euromonitor database: http://www.portal.euromonitor.com.saxion.idm.oclc.org/portal/analysis/tab

Fripp, G. (2015). Example Perceptual Maps. Retrieved November 30, 2016, from Perceptual Maps website: http://www.perceptualmaps.com/example-maps/