Discerning product benefits through visual thematic analysis

Purpose – There is a lack of a framework that explicates how to determine the benefits that consumers desire from a product. The purpose of this article is to formulate a scientific procedure for discerning the benefits that consumers seek from a product. The authors term this procedure as visual thematic analysis (VTA). VTA procedure is illustrated through discerning the benefits of mainstream (non‐financial) English newspapers. Design/methodology/approach – The focus group method was used to collect data. These data were analyzed using visual thematic analysis which involves using multiple investigators and multi‐dimensional scaling techniques in stages. Findings – A total of 26 newspaper attributes combined to form eight distinct newspaper benefits namely ease of comprehension, journalistic values, critical insights, general news, entertainment, well‐being, classifieds and offers. Practical implications – Obtained results may be used further: to segment the newspaper market based upon benefits sought, to position newspapers within the desired segment(s) and to fashion product mix in a way that appeals to the targeted segment(s). Originality/value – This paper proposes a new method called “visual thematic analysis” for data reduction. One such application of VTA is “discerning product benefits” which is discussed in detail. Other applications of this technique that are mentioned in the paper are in the areas of data reduction when researcher confronts small sample size, data reduction of categorical variables and scale development.