Page 146 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Unit 8: Market Positioning and Blueprinting in Services

Stage 1: Identify Key Product Characteristics Notes

The service marketer should make efforts to find out which of the offer’s features and
characteristics do consumers desire, and value most, when they make a decision to buy. Some
kind of weighting should be put on these features. The features could be both tangible (colour,
size, design) and intangible (guarantees, reputation, experience, quality, etc.).

Example: Consumers might have different weights for the features of a tour package
company’s offer. A vegetarian might be keener on the fare available throughout the tour, while
others might stress on the price or variety of destinations and tourist attractions. SOTC/Kuoni,
the outbound tour package company has understood the desires of the Indian tourists – food as
found at home – so well that they have been able to position themselves uniquely with the
“Ghar ka khaana” promise.

Stage 2: Draw a Positioning Map

With the weights of different features, a positioning or perceptual map is drawn. This is an
extremely useful tool to visually depict what the consumers think of available brands with their
features. A positioning map consists of a grid on two axes, with product attributes on each of
them. Thus, brands are spread over the grid, giving an indication of what the market perceives
of the brands vis-à-vis others.
Caution: Clusters of brands in one area or brand standing alone in another area will give the
service marketer an indication of the intensity of competition as well as the distinctiveness or
lack of it of the brands. The marketer also gets glimpses of gaps in the market, for exploitation.

Figure 8.2: A Perceptual Map of Apparel Retailing in Mumbai

High prices
SHEETAL
BOUTIQUE

SHOPPER’S

STOP
GLOBUS
CROSSROADS/ WESTSIDE
PIRAMYD PANTALOONS

Wide range MARKS & SPENCER
Narrow range
BABUBHAI
JAGJIVANDAS

BIG BAZAR

APNA BAZAR

FASHION STREET

Low Price

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