The future of retailing is online, thanks to technological advancements and the prevalence of internet use in the various sectors of our lives. Today, shoppers can order and pay for their goods online. For manufacturers to adapt to this evolving market, they, too, need to evolve. With online stores, price is a factor prioritized by most consumers. This is because of the ease with which they can access product information. You might be asking yourself what MAP pricing is, how it affects eCommerce brands and how you can monitor Walmart MAP violations. Find the answers in this article.

Walmart MAP Violations

A Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) is the price agreed upon between the product manufacturer and retailer, in this case, Walmart. Therefore, this is the lowest price that resellers can advertise a particular product. It shouldn’t be confused with the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP)–the price the manufacturer recommends to the retailer. Manufacturers undertake market research to establish the prices of their products. The research involves measuring the product’s demand and evaluating the existing market conditions and competition. However, manufacturers must be careful about pricing as meager prices could result in losses, and extremely high prices could push away buyers. This is where the MAP policy comes in.

What is a MAP Policy?

A MAP policy is a contractual document enforced by a manufacturer. It is non-negotiable for legal reasons; therefore, retailers and sellers cannot negotiate the MAP. The policy manufacturers the product value and highlights the penalties and repercussions for the reseller or retailer if the contract is breached.

As competition increases, manufacturers are more inclined to protect the quality and perception of their products. Walmart is one of the leading retailers globally, with store chains in various places. The simplest way to remedy MAP violations is by cutting off the retailer. But does this tactic work if that retailer is Walmart? This is where a MAP policy comes in. Having a MAP policy in place will be helpful in such scenarios. A MAP policy helps in the following ways:

Ensuring fairness in competition across storefronts
Building brand identity
Safeguarding the manufacturer’s profit margins
Giving small businesses fair chances to face the competition in the market
Ensuring consistency in the value of products
Avoiding product under-pricing

Ways to Track Walmart MAP Violations

A MAP violation or MAP policy violation is when a retailer or reseller advises a product below the appointed price established in the MAP policy agreement between retailers and their manufacturers. This could result from resellers wanting to offer discounts to their potential customers. In addition, there are heightened MAP violations when non-compliant sellers utilize repricing software that violates MAP temporarily or automatically reduces their prices when the competitors do.

Monitoring/Tracking Walmart MAP Violations

MAP monitoring refers to the routine inspection and review of your product prices on eCommerce websites and other online marketplaces. Its goal is to ensure retailers comply with the terms set out in the MAP policy. The information obtained from a MAP tracking process is priceless to businesses. If you are looking for reputable software for Walmart MAP monitoring, look no further! Brand Alignment is the best company that offers effective software to help you track MAP violations. These tools reveal the following:

Price advertised by every reseller
Each reseller’s name and contact information
The platform on which the product is being sold

Selecting the Ideal Tracking/Monitoring Software

While using MAP monitoring software has several benefits, it is crucial to gauge such software before investing in them. Here are some aspects you should look out for before you make a choice:

Comprehensive Market Analysis

Typically, MAP monitoring tools focus on big marketplaces such as Walmart. However, violators exist even in minor marketplaces and must be identified. A comprehensive MAP monitoring software provides a complete solution. It should be able to do a thorough internet search and give you the information you require.

Intelligent Data

An ideal MAP monitoring software is one that, after perusing resellers’ pages and other marketplaces, will provide you with intelligent and actionable data. In addition, it should ensure that the intelligence collected is available at all times.

MAP Enforcement

Providing information on MAP violations would be useless without proper solutions to protect your brand. Good monitoring software should offer a follow-up plan that can help enhance your brand protection.

Here are some enforcement actions that Brand Alignment MAP service software considers:

Sending notifications of violations
Automatically take screenshots of the violator
Saving the conversation thread with each violator
Creating a database that houses information on MAP violations

Why Retailers Violate MAP Policies

Here are the main reasons why resellers or retailers perpetrate MAP violations:

Little or no regulation on third-party marketplaces
Stringent MAP policies
Inadequate and poor MAP violation tracking
Limited incentives for resellers to conform to MAP policies
Unrealistic or lenient MAP violation penalties
Open distribution networks
Lack of bargaining power over already established brands

Why Should Brands Track Map Violations?

Unfair Pricing Could Discourage Customers

It is common for online shoppers to make price comparisons on various e-commerce platforms before settling for the best deal. There is an increased risk of customers flocking to unauthorized retailers that offer products below the MAP.

Brands Could Lose Their Reputation

When consumers spot a specific brand’s products at a very low price, this doesn’t necessarily excite them. Instead, it has the opposite effect. From your potential customers’ perspectives, low prices could negatively represent your brand value. They could also be a sign of counterfeit.

Disrupted Relationship Management with Distributors

Failing to keep track of MAP violations could also negatively impact your brand’s partner network. Brand owners heavily rely on their distribution channels and are, therefore, particular when choosing retailers. Unauthorized resellers and non-compliant distributors destroy the trust in business relations. Resultantly, all the stakeholders in the distribution chain are troubled.

Loss of Revenue for Brands

Unsurprisingly, MAP violations also cut into a brand’s margin. As a result, you may experience revenue losses. Damaged reputations, diverted customers and unauthorized distributors all cause revenue losses in the end.

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.

How to Track Walmart MAP Violations