Competitive Mapping | Habefast
Mapping is a marketing tool that is used in particular to allow a company to position itself in relation to the competition. Here is what you need to know about mapping.
Mapping, definition
Mapping, also called perceptual map, is a graphic representation with two axes that allow to position different companies according to several criteria.
This mapping allows you to visualize more easily the companies present on your market or on a market that you wish to analyze. The usefulness of a mapping depends on the choice of relevant criteria for the abscissa and ordinate axes. They must allow an objective comparison and highlight the weaknesses and strengths of the analyzed brands. From this graph, it is possible to analyze the strategic actions to be implemented for your company. It allows you to define your direct and indirect competitors but also to validate or not the relevance of your positioning.
Here is a list of criteria often used for mapping: price, quality, market presence, degree of innovation, brand image, customer satisfaction, reputation…
How to perform a mapping and analyze it
There are several steps to perform a mapping, here is the methodology:
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Step 1
Choose two criteria to analyze and compare according to the points that are relevant to your analysis.
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Step 2
Make an inventory of the different brands/products/services that exist on the market and that present the criteria to be analyzed.
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Step 3
Define an axis for each of the selected criteria.
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Step 4
Distribute the companies on the axes according to their correspondence with the criteria.
As far as the analysis is concerned, following the positioning, try to group the different companies close to each other into groups. This will show whether many brands have the same strategy on certain criteria and whether the competition is tough.
If a large number of companies have a strategy of making low quality products at a low price, it would be wise to try to position themselves on the top of the range for example.
Example of a map
Here is how a competitive mapping looks like:
