The Marketing Book 5th Edition

Convenient

opening

Choice and hours

availability

Product

quality

Money

Time

Effort

Stress

Risk

Pleasant

environment

Good

service

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788 The Marketing Book

summarizes the development of image. Initial
images are heavily influenced by advertising
and by general predispositions, including
national stereotypes. Initial experience or word-
of-mouth communication tends to lead fairly
quickly to images of such attributes as prices
and fashion. It takes longer for beliefs to
develop about some of the values which are
part of the core proposition within the home
market, such as beliefs about trust and the
integrity of the retailer.

Positioning and the value

proposition

As the attributes, values and dimensions of
image monitoring become ever more intricate,
the opportunities to differentiate through
positioning abound. Until relatively recently,
positioning was typically defined in highly
tangible terms, such as price levels and the age
range of the target shoppers. Thus, using a
simple, two-dimensional chart, a shoe retailer
could identify gaps in the market, for example,
for more expensive shoes for shoppers under
30, or for budget shoppers in their 40s.
These early approaches to positioning
were appealing in that they focused upon easily
defined market segments. However, they ten-
ded to lead to mob positioning, with most
retailers chasing the (seemingly) most profit-
able target markets. They also offered little
scope for more creative approaches to identify-
ing viable and profitable targets. There are
numerous examples of retailers with similar
price levels, similar product ranges, similar age
targets, yet most dissimilar levels of customer
appeal. While these stores may be close on the
retailers’ positioning maps, they are clearly
differentiated in the customers’ mental maps.
Yet another reason emerges to use the best
available techniques to explore perceptions,
beliefs and values represented by retailers (e.g.
Supphellan, 2000).
Another development in retail marketing
has been the emergence of store positions not

previously considered attractive, or even via-

ble. For example, the combination of wide

assortments and low prices was not considered

to be an attractive financial proposition, how-

ever attractive it may be for the consumer. The

advent of the ‘category killer’, sometimes ascri-

bed the alternative title ‘power retailer’, has

changed the rules (Rogers, 1996). For many

people, Toys’R’Us symbolizes this format, with

a combination of wide choice, reasonable

prices, efficient systems and easy access.

The category killer format has proved

attractive for relatively infrequent, comparison

purchases, where a large/vast choice adds

significant value for the consumer. DIY would

appear vulnerable/attractive to this format:

why drive between several, modest sized DIY

stores to compare similar, restricted ranges,

when a single, longer drive reaches a genuinely

expanded range? Thus, the development of the

B&Q warehouse format, IKEA and Olympus

Sportsworld are other examples of the format.

Positioning is therefore a multidimensional

exploration of mindspace, to identify gaps

in consumer preference maps. However, the

Figure 30.5 The value equation