How to Monitor Walmart MAP Violations

Tips for Tracking Walmart Map Violations

You now know why retailers sell below MAP and are aware of the various brand non-compliance scenarios. You’ll want to know how to follow the trail of violators to prevent them from negatively impacting your brand. Here are the tips to guide you to achieve this:

Developing Separate Strategies for Responding to Authorized and Unauthorized Resellers

A myth that has been the highlight of brand protection discussions is that manufacturers should respond identically to all offenders. Failure to do so may make them appear to be operating on favoritism which is deemed an antitrust violation. While selectively enforcing a pricing policy may not look like a good approach, the truth is that different retailers need to be handled differently. For instance, say you set up a kind of Authorized Dealer Program. This means that some retailers will sell your products without your authorization. In such cases, you can take aggressive action without fearing antitrust issues. This is because your problem with the companies is that of authorization rather than price.

When you discover unauthorized retailers selling your products, you may send letters threatening to take legal action. With authorized resellers, however, you’ll have to be more careful when addressing policy violations. For example, you might consider taking such a company off your Authorized Dealer Program after their first violation. Alternatively, you could formulate a graduated enforcement plan where the retailers will suffer consequences after their first violation. For instance, their inventory may be suspended for 60 days. This way, if there is a second violation, you can remove them entirely from your authorized list. The bottom line? You do not owe unauthorized retailers the same antitrust consideration that your legitimate resellers require. Want more help? Brand Alignment is here for you.

Do Not Discuss Enforcement Notifications with the Violators

Say you catch a retailer offering a product at a very low price. Further, assume you decide that the reseller’s access to future inventory will be cut off, and you take them off your authorized list. How do you go about executing this enforcement strategy? The best course of action would be formally delivering the bad news to the company. The notice should restate the relevant guidelines of your policy and the consequences of breaching it. In addition, it should point precisely to the guidelines the retailer violates. Further, it should state that the company is no longer on the authorized list and isn’t allowed to trade in your products.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Direct-to-Customer Channels Aid in Reducing MAP Violations?

Yes, selling Direct to Customers may handle issues of unauthorized sellers and MAP policy violations. Using DTC means you can:

• Fully control your distributions channels
• Sell your products via your online marketplace platforms
• Establish and nurture better relationships with potential clients
• Maintain control over resellers

Since selling by DTC is yet to garner mass appeal due to the high costs involved, the inability to match prices, and channel conflicts, it may not be desirable, at least for now. Don’t worry, though! Brand Alignment offers you the cheapest software solutions that can help you reduce MAP violations.

What Are the Common Mistakes Brands Make in Map Violations Tracking?

When it comes to tracking MAP violations, there are areas that brands fail in. These may include:

• Failure to Take Enforcement Action Against Violators: Developing a waterproof sound policy means nothing if a manufacturer does not continually monitor the resale landscape for violations. This is because once good resellers notice that non-compliant retailers are in constant breach of your policy and are going unpunished, they may not want to continue representing your product line. Why? Your legitimate resellers may no longer be able to compete fairly with the violators.
• Treating Violators Equally: Because your product retailers do not have equal standing with your brand, they can’t all be treated equally. For instance, when your long-time retail partners violate your MAP policy, it isn’t the same as finding out that a grey-market retailer is reselling your products without your permission. One-size-fits-all approaches to MAP enforcement could damage your brand reputation, and in the end, your revenue may reduce.
• Failing to Adopt an Effective Monitoring and Enforcement Process: The biggest mistake you can make is implementing a process that isn’t able to capture all violations. When a manufacturer engages an in-house team to scan the internet for violations, they are likely to catch fewer violations than they would if they had an automated process. Owing to the vastness of the e-Commerce world, your retailers are always offering your products on multiple sites simultaneously. Because of this, it might be hard for your team to keep up with all violations.

The most crucial step in tracking Walmart MAP violations or any other eCommerce platform is identifying unauthorized sellers and striking them off your listings. Brand Alignment Monitoring software allows you to do this and more for you. As one of the most sought-after service providers in the brand protection industry, Brand Alignment is committed to customizing our services to suit our client’s needs and preferences. Let us Track Walmart MAP violations for you! Contact us today and get our expert advice. You can also get a quote for our MAP monitoring software.