April. 2016. Vol. 6, No.5 ISSN 2307-227X International Journal of Research In Social Sciences © 2013-2014 IJRSS & K.A.J. All rights reserved www.ijsk.org/ijrss 40 PERCEPTUAL MAPS OF SMART PHONES WITH MULTI-DIMENSIONAL SCALING ANALYSIS 1 TUBA YUMUSAK, 2 KADRI GOKHAN YILMAZ, 3 AYBEGUM GUNGORDU 1 Specialist, Department of Business Administration, Gazi University, Turkey 2 Assistant Prof., Department of Business Administration, Gazi University, Turkey 3 Research Assistant, Department of Business Administration, Gazi University, Turkey E-mail: 1 t_tokucoglu@hotmail.com, 2 kgyilmaz@gazi.edu.tr, 3 aybegum.gungordu@gazi.edu.tr ABSTRACT Nowadays, consumers become more selective and informed about goods and services with the development of the communication tools. Companies increase their product range in order to reach more consumers. Increment of the variety of products raises the competition in the market. Therefore, companies need a powerful marketing plan and strategy in this intense competition. At this point, product positioning that requires knowledge about the market and consumers are becoming more important for companies. Perceptual maps are important tools in the product positioning process to determine perceptions of consumers about a product. This paper demonstrates preferred qualifications by consumers and the perception map of smart phones. In many studies, Factor Analysis used for creating perceptual maps of the brands. This paper differentiated from literature by utilizing Multi-Dimensional Scaling Method for creating perceptual map of smart phones. Keywords: Perceptual maps, smart phone, multi-dimensional scaling. 1. INTRODUCTION The usage of smart phones and internet is getting extended. As a result of this, consumers are involved in more informed and selective consumption. The companies increase their goods and services’ diversity to reach much more consumers. At this point, one of the marketing planning factor gains prominence which is product positioning. A successful marketing strategy depends on differentiation, market orientation and cost reduction (Dalrymple and Parsons, 1995). The fundamentals of product positioning are differentiation and market orientation. For companies, positioning is the effort of taking specific and unique position in the market (Zineldin, 1996). Perceptual maps illustrate the position of a product in the market and they are also the most important tools in the product positioning process. Product positioning provides an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the product. Companies should consider how consumers perceive their products with this evaluation. Furthermore, consumers benefit from this view to be informed about the features of the product. Perceptual maps show the location of the products in consumers’ mind graphically into two dimensions. It enables a company to inform how a consumer perceives competition of the products relative to product of the company and taking the marketing actions (Crane et al., 2006). Smart phones which are self-renewal constantly according to the needs and demands of the consumers are often followed by the younger generation. In this study, it will be observed that among five smartphone brands (iPhone, Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony), which brand is the most preferred by the students of Gazi University. We will investigate the preferences of the students in consideration of the five smartphones’ specifications and develop the perceptual map of five smartphones brands. From this point, this study is structured as follows: in Section 2 we present a basic literature review to show importance of positioning and perceptual maps and lastly, Section 3 illustrate the development process of the perceptual map with using Multi-Dimensional Scaling Analysis.