Ensuring MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) compliance is a must for your brand online. This means having a set minimum price for your products and ensuring they are not sold below that price. When a customer sees the same product being sold at different prices on different websites, it can be confusing and even result in lost sales for your brand. Make sure your retailers are compliant with MAP policies to protect your brand and keep your customers (and other retailers) happy!
What is MAP compliance and why is it important?
MAP compliance is important because it protects your brand perception to customers. When customers see the same product being sold at different prices on different websites, it can be confusing and lead to lost sales.
Retailers tend to manipulate their prices lower because they want to take sales away from other retailers selling the same item. Rather than being additive to your brand's total sales, these retailers are cannibalizing the sales from your other partners and eroding margins. Think about how many people may step into a brick and mortar store and then check to see if they can get the product in their hand cheaper on Amazon. Same product, $20 less, and delivered to your door the next day - that's a lost in-person sale for that brick and mortar retailer. Maybe they even continue browsing and buy a product from your competitor instead!
Enforcing MAP policies can be difficult, but it's important to do so in order to protect your brand, keep your good retail partners happy, and maintain customer trust.
How can you ensure your products are MAP compliant?
There are a few ways that you can ensure your products are MAP compliant. First and foremost, you always want to have a clear pricing and retailer policy. This way, everyone knows what the minimum advertised price is and where retailers are authorized to sell your products. It's also important to remember that providing clear MAP pricing means providing retailers with the data they need to manage product pricing at scale. That means Excel files with UPCs, ASINs, exact prices, etc. Don't leave room for interpretation or confusion!
You also want to make sure you are monitoring online retailers to ensure they are complying with your MAP policy. In some cases, brands rely on self-policing from their retailers, but this tends to be a time consuming endeavor and results in an inbox full of one-off violations that are difficult to deal with. Using software to monitor your products and retailers online can be a much more efficient (and accurate) way to handle price tracking. Since software can run around the clock, you can be confident that price manipulations will be caught, and you can take action quickly to protect your brand.
What are the consequences of not complying with MAP policies?
If a retailer is not compliant with a brand's MAP policies, the consequences can vary and really depend on how you as a brand decide to handle the situation.
The most common consequence is that the retailer will be simply notified of the violations and have a set amount of time to correct the issues. For repeat offenses, this is where a brand may step up their enforcement.
For instance, a commonly implemented practice is the "3 Strikes" rule, where brands will increase the level of enforcement each time a violation notice is sent.
Strike 1 - The retailer is put on a 30 day hold
Strike 2 - The retailer is put on a 90 day hold
Strike 3 - The retailer is removed as an authorized retail partner for the brand
It's really up to each brand to decide what the consequences will be for retailers that violate their MAP policy, but it's important to have a plan in place so that you can take action quickly and clearly to protect your brand.
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