Using Perceptual Maps in Marketing
Using Perceptual Maps in Marketing
MKT/421
Using Perceptual Maps in Marketing Thorr Motorcycles is a very successful business based in South Dakota sells motorcycles and motorcycle apparel. Thorr Motorcycles is a multibillion dollar company that manufactures more than 200,000 motorcycles each year. Thorr has long had an image of producing high-end machines and has enjoyed a 40% share in the market. A recent census indicated that Thorr needs to improve its current product to boost sales and stop the recent decline in sales. The company would benefit by using perceptual maps that are designed to reveal a customer’s expectation of a product. However, a perceptual map is useful only if the correct parameters are chosen to develop the map. The parameters chosen need to be important to the customer and essential to the product. This paper will focus on the three phases of the perceptual map situation and discuss the situation, the solution, and the results of decisions made for each phase.
Phase 1 (Where is the Thunder?) The first phase of a simulation is to choose the correct parameters used in a perceptual map that will be compared to other motorcycle manufacturing companies. A perceptual map will help to compare many of the quality offered by Thorr to those offered by the competition. In addition, this map will reveal the marketing position of the company. Upon conducting and reviewing marketing research as well as information on its competition, four parameters were chosen for the perceptual mapping. The four parameters chosen for the CruiserThorr perceptual map were price, lifestyle image, service offering, and quality engineering. Lifestyle is a very powerful characteristic in the motorcycle business and is thought to play the most significant role in a customer’s decision-making process. Quality engineering was chosen as a parameter for its role in establishing Thorr as one of the finest crafted motorcycles in the industry.
MKT/421
Using Perceptual Maps in Marketing Thorr Motorcycles is a very successful business based in South Dakota sells motorcycles and motorcycle apparel. Thorr Motorcycles is a multibillion dollar company that manufactures more than 200,000 motorcycles each year. Thorr has long had an image of producing high-end machines and has enjoyed a 40% share in the market. A recent census indicated that Thorr needs to improve its current product to boost sales and stop the recent decline in sales. The company would benefit by using perceptual maps that are designed to reveal a customer’s expectation of a product. However, a perceptual map is useful only if the correct parameters are chosen to develop the map. The parameters chosen need to be important to the customer and essential to the product. This paper will focus on the three phases of the perceptual map situation and discuss the situation, the solution, and the results of decisions made for each phase.
Phase 1 (Where is the Thunder?) The first phase of a simulation is to choose the correct parameters used in a perceptual map that will be compared to other motorcycle manufacturing companies. A perceptual map will help to compare many of the quality offered by Thorr to those offered by the competition. In addition, this map will reveal the marketing position of the company. Upon conducting and reviewing marketing research as well as information on its competition, four parameters were chosen for the perceptual mapping. The four parameters chosen for the CruiserThorr perceptual map were price, lifestyle image, service offering, and quality engineering. Lifestyle is a very powerful characteristic in the motorcycle business and is thought to play the most significant role in a customer’s decision-making process. Quality engineering was chosen as a parameter for its role in establishing Thorr as one of the finest crafted motorcycles in the industry.