Customer's Perceptions of Brand Positioning of Home Appliances, Using Perceptual Map Technique

One important concept which plays a critical role in marketing is positioning and especially brand positioning. In recent years، the increasing amount of various types of imported products in home appliances industry and the protective policies regarding domestic products set by the Iranian government have led to a new competitive phase in this industry. In this study، for identifying the competitive position and status of the companies'' brands which are active in home appliances industry، Emersun Company (Domestic producer، Iranian Brand) and LG Company (Korean Brand) were selected to be assessed through the perspectives of their customers، their most valuable asset. Here، an attempt has been made to draw a perceptual map of Emersun and LG companies'' brands based on fundamental concepts of the marketing science. A number of retailers of two companies'' in three areas; Shari''ati، Amin-Hozoor، and Jomhoori Streets were selected through stratified sampling. Then 390 customers of these retailers were randomly selected. Questionnaires were used as research instruments to get customers’ views. The questionnaire''s validity was established by banking experts and marketing university instructors، and its reliability was checked by Cronbach’s a (Alpha) Coefficient. According to the results obtained from the tests and the perceptual maps، LG Company is found to have a better position in comparison with Emersun Company in the three marketing mix variables except price. Thus، it could be concluded that LG Company is in a better position than Emersun. Accordingly، the policy makers of these two companies are recommended to take the results of this study into consideration and draw perceptual maps on a regular basis to strengthen their competitive positions.