MAP is an acronym for “Minimum Advertised Pricing.” It is the lowest price an authorized retailer can advertise a product for. It is not the lowest price a product can be sold for, but the lowest price it can advertised for. This is a practice that is legal and only relates to the advertised price. The practice protects manufacturer’s against product erosion by keeping the cost consistent, especially when more than one retailer is involved selling the product. MAP practices apply to all advertised pricing both online and offline. Authorized retailers are always advised of the policy including monitoring and any penalties accrued for flaunting the policy.
Is MAP a Good Thing?
Such a practice is a very good thing especially for manufacturers. MAP helps to maintain pricing integrity, as well as reasonable profit margins. The policy also helps manufacturers keep competition evenly distributed among the retailers that are authorized to sell the product. It is important to keep in mind, MAP policy only applies to authorized retailers. Unauthorized retailers will skirt the policy and leave the manufacturer to wonder how they got their hands on the product in the first place. Most unauthorized retailers will pirate a product eroding the integrity of it. It is important for manufacturer’s to retain a product that performs to consumer’s expectations.
What is the downside of an MAP Policy?
The downside to protecting the integrity of a product includes the manufacturer’s responsibility to monitor and enforce the policy. To monitor the policy means it has to be addressed equally across all retailers who carry that product. It will be necessary to take corrective and defensive measures for those who violate the policy. The corrective and defensive measures may include taking action against a top retailer for the manufacturer.
How to Monitor Such a Violation
The most common practice to monitor MAP is to utilize a third party to monitor and enforce the policy. When a violation is discovered, the MAP monitor will issue a report to the manufacturer. A third party may also take advantage of enforcement tools such as issuing an email complete with a screen shot of the violation and a reminder of the policy.
An advantage to using a third party monitor is to give the process an unbiased edge and mitigate concerns that there may be some collusion between manufactures and retailers.
A third party option is to take advantage of the power of Brandlox. It is software designed to give the manufacturer the ability to monitor and instantly track such violations and to take the appropriate action before a financial loss is incurred.
Brandlox will give the manufacture some of peace of mind that their products and pricing are being protected from compromise and theft. Using the Brandlox dashboard, the manufacture will know the instant a violation has taken place.
The Benefits of Monitoring MAP
Using Brandlox to monitor and enforce the MAP policy is adding a security and loss prevention system to the process. Most retailers do not offer such a system or always take due regard for such pricing policies. Brandlox gives the manufacturer consistent monitoring of products and pricing while protecting the manufacturer’s brand. Brandlox also provides an easy to use system along with a streamlined dashboard to allow the manufacturer to continually monitor products and keep them safe and secure. Part of the monitoring and tracking process is to identify unauthorized retailers pirating their products.
For more information about MAP practices and protecting the associated policy, contact us at Brandlox online or give us a call at 866-882-8484 and speak with one of our customer service representatives.
