Perceptual Mapping of Beverages: Coffee and Tea

Perceptual Mapping of Beverages: Coffee and Tea

Asim Ayaz, Karthikeyan B., Vignesh S., Sunny Teotia, Sunwinder Pal Singh

To survive the onslaught of cut throat competition of the market it has become

imperative for the organizations to understand and acknowledge the preferences and

perceptions of the consumer and adapt accordingly. Hot beverages form an integral

part in daily consumption of Indian consumers which has been a critical element in

the flourishing tea and coffee industry. This paper attempts to comprehend the

consumption pattern as well as how certain varieties of tea and coffee are perceived

by the consumers. The premise for the research was to reveal the difference in

perceptions regarding specific varieties of tea and coffee as perceived by the

consumers vis-a-vis as projected by the marketers. Basic statistical tools were used to

derive the result for the empirical study and results were formulated based on that.

Keywords: Multidimensional Scaling, Perceptual Mapping, Tea and Coffee

Perceptual Mapping

INTRODUCTION

A marketing concept that encompasses

customer impression, awareness and/or

consciousness about a company or its

offerings. Customer perception is

typically affected

by advertising, reviews, public

relations, social media,

personal experiences and other channels.

A. Ayaz, Karthikeyan B., Vignesh S., S. Teotia, S. P. Singh

Consumer perception applies the concept

of sensory perception to marketing and

advertising. Just as sensory perception

relates to how humans perceive and

process sensory stimuli through their five

senses, consumer perception pertains to

how individuals form opinions about

companies and the merchandise they offer

through the purchases they make.

Merchants apply consumer perception

theory to determine how their customers

perceive them. They also use consumer

perception theory to develop marketing

and advertising strategies intended to

retain current customers -- and attract new

ones.

Perceptual mapping is

a diagrammatic technique used by

asset marketers that attempts to visually

display the perceptions of customers or

potential customers. Typically the

position of a product, product line, brand,

or company is displayed relative to their

competition. Perceptual maps can have

any number of dimensions but the most

common is two dimensions. Perceptual

mapping has been used extensively in

marketing. This powerful technique is

used in new product design, advertising,

retail location, and many other marketing

applications where the manager wants to

know the basic cognitive dimensions of

the product being evaluated and more

importantly the relative positioning of the

product relative to the ones present in the

market. The empirical study attempts to

provide an insight on the consumer

perception regarding selective varieties of

tea and coffee. The study aims to quantify

the sensory perceptions of the consumers

by virtue of the survey conducted for the

specific purpose and then provide

conclusions and inferences basis the

same.

Though, it is to be understood that the

marketing messages only work out be the

initiating point and any variation in the

actual experience of the product to that of

as was perceived by the consumers would

lead to the non acceptance of the product.

COFFEE AND TEA IN INDIA

India has a huge tea and coffee

consumption which provides ample

opportunity for the marketers to encash on

the opportunity but the core issue with

devising marketing strategy on these

products is that it solely is driven on

sensory stimulation of the consumers.

Despite the fast growth of bottled juices

and aerated drinks, consumption of tea

and coffee is going up in India. Coffee

consumption is up by 6% in the last few

years while tea consumption has been

showing a 3% annual growth.

Perceptual Mapping of Beverages: Coffee and Tea

Widespread popularity of carbonated

beverages supported by intense

promotional campaigns has not made a

dent in the consumption of tea and coffee.

Mushrooming coffee bars and cafes have

made coffee drinking fashionable in

cities. Coffee consumption has been aided

by increasing urbanization and greater

disposable income. Admittedly, south

India as a region has the largest number of

coffee drinkers.

Despite the availability of umpteen

numbers of beverages, coffee continues to

occupy an important place among all.

Traditionally coffee is known as a south

Indian drink, but growing demand for

coffee in non-southern states over the past

few years has started pushing up overall

coffee consumption in the country. In

India, tea is one of the most popular hot

beverages. It is consumed daily in almost

all homes, offered to guests, consumed in

high amounts in domestic and official

surroundings, and is made with the

addition of milk with or without spices. It

is also served with biscuits dipped in the

tea and eaten before consuming the tea.

The more appealing or attractive

consumers find the product the more

likely that they are going to consume it.

METHODOLOGY

The primary objective of the research

work is to analyze the perceptual mapping

of various varieties of tea and coffee in

India. The comparison procedure we use

is practical and is based on usage of

multidimensional scaling which

represents the preferences of respondents

spatially by means of the visual display.

The process began with the defining the

scope the research and zeroing on the

target respondents, which was taken to be

urban and metro population. The

dimensions basis which the respondents

response were evaluated was defined and

the survey was conducted.

The target group of the research was

focused geographically with the

population residing in urban and metros

and demographically it is focused on

respondents belonging to 18-60 years of

age. The data was collected by conducting

an online and personalized survey.

The semantic differential rating scale was

used to evaluate the response. The

semantic differential scale is a seven-point

rating scale with end points associated

with bipolar labels that have semantic

meaning. The scale controls the tendency

of some respondents, particularly those

with very positive or very negative

attitudes, to mark the right- or left-hand

sides without reading the labels.

A. Ayaz, Karthikeyan B., Vignesh S., S. Teotia, S. P. Singh

To maintain the consistency and diversity

of the respondents, the survey was

personally shared with the respondents

belonging to different geographies of the

country, viz., Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi,

Kolkata, Bangalore etc. The questionnaire

evaluated the preferences of the

respondents on tea and coffee catering to

the sensory perceptions. The varieties of

coffee which were under the purview of

the study were Mocha, Frappe, Espresso,

Black Coffee and Cappuccino while the

varieties of tea under consideration were

Lemon Tea, Ice Tea, Black Tea, White

Tea and Iranian Tea.

The evaluation of the beverages was

primarily done on two scales aroma and

taste. These two attributes were chosen

basis various informal discussions

amongst the target group on which

attributes they perceive to most influential

while choosing the beverage and

accordingly the mentioned attributes were

freezed.

RESULTS

The mentioned graphs show the

perceptual map of different varieties of

coffee and tea as perceived by the

respondents. The expected and observed

rankings of these beverages based on

aroma and sweetness/bitterness is also

highlighted.

Perceptual Mapping of Beverages: Coffee and Tea

Comparision of actual and perceived - Coffee

Sweetness Aroma

S.no Coffee Actual Perceived Actual Perceived

1 Mocha 2 4 3 5

2 Frappe 1 2 6 6

3 Espresso 5 5 2 4

4 Black Coffee 6 6 1 3

5 Latte 4 3 3 2

6 Cappuccino 3 1 3 1

A. Ayaz, Karthikeyan B., Vignesh S., S. Teotia, S. P. Singh

Comparision of actual and perceived - Tea

Sweetness Aroma

S.no Tea Actual Perceived Actual Perceived

1 Lemon Tea 3 1 3 3

2 Ice tea 2 2 5 5

3 Black tea 5 5 1 1

4 White tea 1 3 4 2

5 Iranian Tea 4 4 2 4

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS

The results show that most of the varieties

of coffee are available in the first quadrant

(served hot and sweet) and the remaining

ones are in the second quadrant (served

hot and bitter). Another insight which has

been derived is that these hot varieties of

coffee are perceived differently by the

people though they are not able to

completely appreciate the minor

differences. The huge gap in the cold

coffee region can be captured after doing

further relevant research.

There were not many varieties of tea as

compared to coffee highlighting the fact

that Indian youth prefer coffee over tea.

More promotion is required (in similar

lines to that of having exclusive coffee

outlets like CCD, Starbucks) before

launching new varieties.

Though people are unable to accurately

perceive the differences in different

beverages, they were able to identify the

difference which provides scope for

companies to develop new varieties which

will have good demand.

FURTHER RESEARCH

OPPORTUNITIES

Research has to be done to identify

whether people visit coffee bars as a

rendezvous or to actually enjoy the

beverage. This analysis will help us know

whether people will be interested in

different varieties of coffee or tea.

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