It is here that the concept of product positioning shows its importance. Product concept is a concept which is used to motivate customers to select a given product. The greater the strength and number of competitors, the greater the need for positioning to distinguish between a given product and the competitive brands.
Product positioning can be divided into three categories:
1) category positioning;
2) selling positioning; and
3) cmmercial positioning.
Category positioning is very broad. It refers to product category in which the brand has to compete, while selling positioning refers to the specific ideas used to market the product. It highlights the distinct attributes of the product like design , package and price. For instance Lipton has recently distinguished its brand through its unique packaging in the form of its zipped pack and flip flop pack offering the consumer an experience of convenience. It also refers to selling ideas which are placed in the buyer’s perception.
These are the ideas to which the customer can relate with ease because of their association with a lifestyle or some other frame of reference with which customers identify themselves. It is evident from the above that our task is to study and understand the needs of the consumers, the element of competition and other environmental factors and thereafter measure the opportunities whereby to decide about the gap in the market, filling of which would fetch the highest pay-off.
The first important task in the process of gap selection and filling it successfully is to identify the most important dimension used by the consumers to perceive the product. Grouping would make the task of narrowing down of the dimensions easier. The next task is to design the product. No consumer product will sell to the public for a longer period until and unless it does not fulfill a consumer need reasonably well.
The product has to be projected in such a way that the consumer perceives it in the same manner as the seller wants him to perceive. If a product which has very superior features, but the consumer fails to perceive it to be so, the opportunity will be lost. Psychological elements are more important in consumer products. We should, therefore, make sure that the Core Benefit Proposition (CBP) is properly communicated to the consumer through advertising and promotion. Identification of product dimensions holds the key to success. Once the dimensions have been identified, the next task of the seller is to determine customer preferences, our own and competitor’s strong and weak points by conducting a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities threats (SWOT) analysis and the possible pay-offs of filling certain gaps.
Take the case of restaurants that start spending lot of money on making their food better to beat their competitors, but later on discover that the cause of success of their competitors rested in the environment and not the quality of food. This shows the importance of picking up the right gap.
Techniques to determine customer preferences:
The ‘expectancy value model’ and ‘preference regression method’ are the two easier and less expensive popular ways to determine customer preferences.
Expectancy value (linear) model: This is not only simple but less expensive model of customer preferences. This model can be used in early design process to get an initial indication of attribute importance. The expectancy value Model discovers what the consumer believes to be important.
When Burger King started off initially, their approach was to offer hamburgers made specifically to the customer’s taste. Their tag line for this was, “Have it your way” .This was an excellent tactic to use against other fast food restaurants that gave the customer little or no choice. Keeping this distinctive attribute in mind they opened all their stores within a couple uf blocks of existing McDonalds locations.
Preference regression method: The weightage given by the consumer in expectancy value method to different attributes may not always be correct. To avoid being misled, Preference Regression Method may be useful. This statistical technique produces reasonably accurate “average” importance of the perceptual map. Simple regression is sufficiently robust, it is less expensive and easy compared to monotonic techniques. It is used to derive the ‘core benefit proposition’.
Repositioning: Product positioning is not limited to new products alone. It is relevant for occasional face lifting of the existing products. This is evidenced by so called “new and improved products” of almost all kinds such as toilet soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, tooth pastes, etc. Repositioning does not mean total change. It sometimes entails strengthening and clarifying an existing identity. Products are like plants. If neglected and not repositioned they will die. A famous garment firm was having a tough time with the sales of its men’s shirts. Instead of involving into a futile competition with its competitor, its newly appointed chairman shifted the weight from men’s shirts to women’s blouses and sports wear. The result was an amazing increase in its profits.
It is not only the product itself which is involved in positioning or repositioning. Several factors combined together make up for the success including change of name and technique of advertising.
Repositioning does not always hold the key to success. In case a product has got into a very bad shape due to prolonged neglect, repositioning effort may turn out to be an exercise in futility. In such cases it would always be better to drop the product.