MAP monitoring is a process where you track products based on their specific identifiBuilding a brand online isn’t an easy task. This is especially true when you’re working with resellers and need to make sure they all hold true to your Minimum Advertised Price (MAP). Let’s discuss how you can learn more about MAP monitoring for your business.
What is a Minimum Advertised Price?
A Minimum Advertised Price, or MAP, is the lowest price a manufacturer wants retailers to advertise their product for.
For example, let’s say a brand selling shoes sets its MAP at $119. This means that retailers who want to sell those shoes must sell them for $119 or above. What if a retailer tries selling the shoes by discounting them down to $99? Well, they are in some serious trouble, brother!
Of course, they’re only in trouble if they get caught. You put your MAP agreements into place so that your customers see consistency in advertising. This is where the practice of Map monitoring comes into play.
What is MAP Monitoring?
It’s understandable why some retailers and resellers try to sell your products under the price agreed upon inside the Map agreement. They see other online resellers dropping the price and want to stay competitive.
The reason doesn’t matter, though. The bottom line is your reputation is going to suffer…and we can’t have that, now can we? It doesn’t matter if you’re paid in full for the products your reseller buys from you. The problem is that your customers will become confused about why one reseller sells at a lower price than another.
MAP monitoring allows you to find out when retailers are violating the MAP agreement. You’ll find the culprits so you can take action to protect your good name and brand in the marketplace.
How MAP Monitoring Works
ers. This might include:
- SKUs
- Serial numbers
- Images
- Text
- Video
- Any other content related to the product
These identifiers help you track your products across all platforms and retailers. From there, it’s a matter of checking systematically whether any resellers are violating your agreement. You might do this via automated software or manually by using a team that reviews e-commerce platforms regularly.
Tracking Needs to be Specific & Efficient
Any method you use to catch those thieving resellers needs to be accurate and efficient. Some of those little buggers use various tricks and schemes to try and undercut your pricing without getting caught.
One trick they try is giving site visitors an option to click into a “best price” offer. The publicly advertised price meets your MAP agreement but then gives their customers a lower price on the next page.
As you can see, there’s quite a bit that goes into MAP monitoring. We encourage you to make contact with us so you can learn more about MAP monitoring for your business. Don’t let those thieves undercut you any longer!