In today's fast-paced marketplace, strong retailer relationships are the foundation for effective MAP policy compliance. Strengthening Partnerships: Collaborating with Retailers for MAP Success Building Strong Retailer Relationships A solid Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy protects brand value and ensures fair competition. Its effectiveness, however, depends largely on the strength of relationships with retail partners. [...]

Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving from MAP Services Corp! As Thanksgiving draws near, we’re reminded of the importance of gratitude—not only for family, health, and friendships but also for the partnerships and collaboration that drive MAP compliance. Compliance isn’t just a policy; it’s a commitment that fosters trust, fairness, and integrity in the marketplace. [...]

The holiday shopping season is one of the most critical times of the year for brands and retailers. It’s the period when sales peak, competition heats up, and pricing strategies come under immense pressure. Consumers are on the lookout for the best deals, and retailers often face a delicate balance between offering competitive prices and [...]

In today's competitive marketplace, Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies play a critical role in preserving brand value and maintaining fair competition. These policies, which establish a price floor for advertised prices, help prevent destructive price wars that can erode margins and damage relationships between manufacturers and retailers. For businesses aiming to establish a strong [...]

Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies play a critical role in ensuring pricing integrity and fair competition among retailers. However, simply having a MAP policy in place is not enough - it must be effectively enforced and continuously strengthened to withstand the challenges posed by unauthorized sellers and price erosion. In this article, we will [...]

As we reach the midpoint of the year, it’s essential to reflect on the evolving landscape of Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies. MAP violations remain a significant concern for brands and retailers alike, affecting market positioning, revenue, and brand reputation. Let’s take a look into the trends observed in MAP violations over the past [...]

Prepare for a game-changing innovation as MAP Services Corp. introduces SIFT, a cutting-edge automated dealer website scraping program. This revolutionary tool, aptly named SIFT (Systematic Information Fetching Tool), marks a pivotal moment in the company's quest to expand its footprint within dealer-owned websites. Unleashing the power of this advanced scraping robot, MAP Services Corp. [...]

Enforcing a MAP program involves various methods such as violation outreach emails, calls, DNS lists, and cease and desist letters, which are effective in most cases. However, dealing with persistent violators who continue to breach the policy despite efforts to ensure compliance can be a challenge. A common concern many brands face is the [...]

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. But how do [...]

Is MAP a good fit for your company? Sounds like a loaded question doesn't it?  The fact is, as much as we believe in pricing policies, they are not a good solution for every brand.  Most of the time they are great, but if one of your primary competitive advantages is price, then forcing [...]

Price changes used to happen annually but in today's dynamic business climate, price changes are happening much more frequently, and they have taken on much more importance. The costs of freight and raw materials are rising quickly and price changes need to happen quickly and efficiently as well.  We talked with a manufacturer recently [...]

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 [...]

This post is for wholesale distributors.  There is a lot that goes into deciding to add a line.  One of the big decisions should be determining if the brand has decent control of its dealer distribution network.  If a manufacturer has no control over the distribution there is bound to be a race to [...]

One of the things many potential clients worry about before they implement a MAP program is a decrease in sales.  This is an understandable worry, but we have found that usually there is an increase in sales after MAP is implemented.  Without Minimum Advertised Price (MAP), or Minimum Resale Price (MRP) policies many brands [...]

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. Create a Pricing Policy that is Unique to your Company Spend some [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. Make sure it is [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]