Blog

4 tips for creating a MAP policy

Let's face it, as a business owner, you want to maintain control over your pricing strategy and protect your profit margins. That's where a Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) policy comes in handy. It's like having a bouncer at the door of your nightclub, making sure everyone is playing by the rules. ...Read more

Is Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) a good fit your company?

Sounds like a loaded questions doesn't it? One of the most overlooked or undervalued answers to this question is "Do you have the stomach to stop selling to a good customer". Consider this "Is this really a good customer if they're undermining your efforts to maintain a fair market for the rest of your customers". Consumers will find and buy your products regardless of the source. Brand integrity, customer service and continuing to bring viable products to market isn't easy or inexpensive but it's what you've built your business on. Don't allow your work to be degraded by sellers who are only interested in a quick buck and could care less about how their actions undermine your hard work. ...Read more

Price changes and how they affect MAP compliance

In today's dynamic business climate, price changes have taken on much more importance. Freight and raw material costs are rising quickly and price changes need to happen quickly as well. Fortunately, we make these price changes easy for our clients. It's as simple as sending us an email with the new file and we make it happen. No need to log into a portal and format your file to fit etc. Just send us your price file to ensure enforcement is in sync with your internal price notifications. In addition, we can make sure your new price file is distributed to all your resellers, even the ones that you do not have direct contact with. We can notify all the Amazon and eBay sellers in one easy email making your life easier and also heading off future advertised price violation issues. IMPORTANT: Do not forget to update your data services as well. Updating one and not the other is a recipe for a MAP violation nightmare." Send your price files to; danh@mapservicescorp.com ...Read more

Market saturation and your brand

When trying to grow a brand it is normal to think more distribution is better. Manufacturers are pumped when they get large enough to make it into the top-tier wholesale distributors. Sales are growing and everyone is happy. During this growth phase, it is hard to be aware of the problems that might lurk just around the corner. With growth in distribution comes growth in unauthorized sellers. There are many “underwear entrepreneurs” who get a data feed from a WD and list all your products at rock-bottom prices on Amazon and eBay. Who are these guys?! ...Read more

Evaluation Of Warehouse Distributor Market

Gain valuable market intelligence before you commit dollars to inventory. Verify a brands commitment to your success with a Market Evaluation from MAP Services Corp. Learn how well a brand controls their sales channels before you invest thousands of dollars to inventory only to find the landscape is not what you expected. ...Read more

A secret to turn MAP monitoring into increased sales

Wouldn't it be great if you were able to create pull-thru advertising and a marketing plan that took fringe relationships and developed them into strong, loyal customers? With MAP Services Corp, you not only receive information on sellers in violation, but we also include compliant sellers as well. ...Read more

Protect Your Company by Creating a Pricing Policy

Pricing is one of the three cornerstones of your marketing strategy and is key to your success. Your prices and pricing strategy say a lot to your customers about who you are. Protect your company and your brand by considering these recommendations. ...Read more

Why are MAP violations still happening?

After implementing a pricing program and really cracking down on enforcement manufacturers hope they can just coast for a while. But when they do, violations begin creeping up almost immediately and soon dealers are complaining and pointing fingers all over again. Trying to bring everyone back into line a second time around is harder than the first. So, why do the violations come back soon? Well, here are 4 reasons. ...Read more

Sorting through the Jargon

If you are new to the world of pricing policies things can be a little bit confusing. Like all industries, there is a certain amount of jargon that gets thrown around. But in the world of MAP, it is even worse, because it is an industry that evolved without any central authority. In the aviation world, everyone pretty much uses the same lingo. But in the MAP world that is definitely not so. People use different terms to mean the same thing, and sometimes they use the same term to mean different things! ...Read more

When MAP Isn’t MAP?

When is a MAP policy not actually a MAP policy? Although all pricing policies are often referred to as “MAP Policies,” there are two distinct types. The first is called a “Minimum Retail (or Resale) Price (MRP) Policy” and establishes a minimum price that applies to all advertising or other offers, as well as the actual selling price. The second or Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Policy covers only the advertised or offer price and never the actual selling price. ...Read more

Common Pricing Policy Pitfalls

Have you ever pulled out your smartphone in a store to check online prices? I have. Dealers hate when customers walk into the corner of the shop and pull out their smartphone. The next question is always “Hey I can buy it for cheaper online, can you match this price?” Or worse they just walk out. ...Read more

Material Differences

For manufacturers, there are many benefits to having an authorized dealer program. It allows them to have a lot of control over who sells their products. The benefits of this are numerous. One huge advantage is an improvement in the consumer's buying experience. This has been shown over and over to have a huge effect on perceived brand va ...Read more

Mapping out a MAP policy

If you are just thinking about starting a MAP program it might seem overwhelming at first but it is actually pretty simple. At the end of this article I will link to some MAP policies you can read to get a better handle on it but here are the basics. ...Read more

Wholesale Distributor Pricing Policies

We have many manufacturers ask us about enforcing a pricing policy with their wholesale distributors. While this is not something we can easily enforce, I wanted to give some advice on how it might be encouraged. First the problem: The WDs have a lot of discretion in the prices they give their clients. We here at MAP Services Corp began as ...Read more

Moving your MAP policies overseas

We've been adding a lot of clients in Europe recently. And with this expansion, there has been a lot of learning! I thought it might be a good idea to share some of this knowledge in case your sales are expanding overseas. The first thing to know is that unless you are lost, you can not mention MAP in Europe. ...Read more