Positioning Map
A Positioning Map plots every competitor, including you, on the two variables customers actually judge you by, so gaps in the market become visible rather than argued about.
Two axes cross to lay out four quadrants, and only once you plot yourself and every real competitor on them does the genuine gap in the market show itself.
Reach for this when…
- Everyone in the room has a different, unspoken idea of where you sit versus rivals.
- You are launching and need to know if a gap in the market is real or wishful thinking.
- Pricing keeps drifting toward the middle of the pack with no clear reason why.
How to run it
- Pick the two variables customers actually weigh when they choose, not the two you find easiest to measure.
- Score yourself and every real competitor on both axes, using customer perception, not your own opinion.
- Plot everyone on the grid.
- Look for genuine white space, not just empty space nobody wants.
- Decide whether to move into the gap or defend the position you already hold.
A worked example
Situation. Aiko Tanaka ran a coffee roastery in Osaka, Japan, convinced on gut feel that she was the mid-market option between a discount chain and an artisan roaster.
Applied. Plotting price against roast provenance transparency, the real map showed her sitting almost on top of the artisan roaster, with the actual gap in affordable, fully-traceable coffee.
Result. She repositioned around traceability at a lower price point than the artisan roaster, and wholesale orders from cafes doubled within the year.
The catch
The map is only as honest as the axes and the scores, and it is tempting to pick axes that flatter your own position rather than the ones customers really use. Two axes also compress a decision that usually has three or four real variables, and a gap on the map is not proof anyone wants to be served there.
An empty space on the map is not a gap. It might just be a place nobody wants to stand.