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Creating a Positioning map in Excel and transferring it to Word These instructions are for a positioning map using MS Excel for Apple. The principle

is the same for a PC program however some of the instructions may vary. I hope that you find this document useful.

1. Decide on a ratings scale.

• There are a number of scales that are appropriate for market research, for a

positioning map a nominal scale is most appropriate. An easy scale to use for

a simple perceptual map is a 5 or 7-point Likert scale.

• When you code the data you will positive and negative numbers

E.G. Very Strongly agree

Strongly agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

Very Strongly disagree

The Body Shop sells high quality

goods

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Coding example 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3

2. Decide on what you want your axis labels to be.

• Look at what you want to gain from your research, e.g. quality and price,

popularity and prestige etc.

3. Research competitors within the industry.

• You need other competitors to develop a picture of where the product sits in

relation to the market and industry.

4. Develop questions that based in the ratings scale for all your companies or products.

5. Interview your sample and record the data in excel.

• Record all the data in code and at the end find the mean for each axis.

i In the cell for the averages: =average (B3, D3, F3, H3) then “enter”.

• Record the companies or products in the left column then all each

respondent’s answer for each axis next to it, as shown in the picture.

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6. Highlight the data in the average cells.

7. Go to “Charts” and select “Scatter” and “Marked Scatter”.

8. This will make a new chart appear on the document.

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9. Right click on the grid lines and click “Delete”.

10. Right click again on the Y-axis and select “Format Axis…” Select scale and set the

maximum and minimum values for the axis 1 point above the highest value and 1

point below the lowest value. Click “OK” and repeat for the X-axis.

11. To remove the axis labels right click on the Y-axis and select “Format Axis” again.

Select “Ticks” and under “Axis labels” click “None”. Repeat for the X-axis.

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12. Labelling the points needs to be done manually. Right click on one of the points and

select “Add Data Labels”.

13. The Y-axis labels will appear next to each point, double click on one of the labels

and write the company or product name in the box by matching the number with

those in the table.

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14. To label the axis go to “Chart Layout”, click “Axis Titles” and select “horizontal axis

title” and “title below axis”. Then do the same for the “vertical axis title”.

• To label the axis double click on the label and write the axis name.

• Move the labels to the far end of each axis where the greatest amount of that

feature is to be measured.

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15. To give the table a title go to “Chart Layout”, click “Chart Title” and then “Title above

chart”. Click on ‘Chart Title’ and type the charts heading.

16. Then copy and paste the chart into your word document. The end product should

look like this:

The Body Shop

L'Oreal

Avon

Innoxa Nivea

Nutrimetics

J&J

Ethics

Quality

Positioning map: Quality vs. Ethics