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Perceptual mapping based on web search queries and consumer forum comments

Consumers’ online activities such as keyword searching and writing reviews can provide valuable information that reflects their perception of the market. This study proposes ways to analyze market structure and draw a perceptual map from the following two types of online data: keyword search and online consumer forum data. We apply our methodology to the imported car brands in South Korea automobile market. The multidimensional scaling (MDS) results provide different consumer insights depending on the nature of data. The inter-brand similarity values derived from the proposed two metrics are shown to be correlated. Especially, using consumer forum data, we apply our metric to analyzing the market structure of two sub-markets: midsize sedan and compact crossover sport utility vehicle (SUV). Furthermore, utilizing the proposed measures, we calculate the prototypicality of a brand and demonstrate its positive effect on sales. Marketing managers can apply our technique to understand the market structure and perform longitudinal studies to monitor consumers’ perceptual changes without conducting a time-consuming, traditional survey method.