Positioning map vs perceptual map

	Positioning map	Perceptual map
Definition	A view of where competing products sit in the customer's mind along the dimensions buyers actually care about — used to find a defensible gap before building.	A chart of how the market perceives competing products across two feature dimensions — reflecting the customer's mind, not the maker's intent.

The difference

A perceptual map records how the market already sees competing products: the customer's mind, measured. A positioning map is the maker's decision about where a new product should sit and which gap it should claim. Read the first before drawing the second. Dyson's bagless vacuum found a gap on the perceptual map that incumbents were structurally unable to occupy, because filling it would have cannibalised their bag revenue.

From the chapter of Tangibles that introduces these terms. Definitions are the book's glossary entries.

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