MAP policies

Posted by For Inventors at 23 November, 2008, 12:01 pm

Lots of stuff going on so I have a lot to cover.? First of all, here are the hits: ?

http://momspark.blogspot.com/2008/11/mom-sparks-2008-holiday-gift-guide.html??

http://dzynezone.blogspot.com/2008/11/product-reviews-grill-charms-no-mis.html?

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Next is an update on a contest that tons of my fellow Mompreneurs and I entered.? There were so many of us that either won, were in the top ten or received honorable mentions.? Here is the link to my announcement: ?

http://www.startupnation.com/homebased100/winner/1513/index.php?

To see the other Mompreneurs, I’m going to refer you to my friend Laurie, who did a wonderful job of recognizing all the gals (and she has a great website for holiday gifts) so I’ll refer you here to see more: ?

http://cobalt-world.com/blog/2008/11/21/lauries-cobalt-world-receives-honorable-mention/?

My topic for today is going to be the concept of MAP pricing.? I’ve wrestled with this for a while and I’m still on the fence about what I should do, but in light of a recent “development”, I’ve put the subject back into the forefront of my mind.?

What is MAP pricing?? MAP stands for Minimum Advertised Price.? As a manufacturer or supplier you can’t tell retailers what they MUST charge, (that would not really be legal now would it) BUT you can have in place a MAP policy in which you and your customers(retailers) enter into.? It basically says that the retailer agrees not to ADVERTISE a price lower than what is set in your contract or policy.? There is a lot of controversy on both sides of the fence as to the benefits or detriments of a MAP policy.? For manufacturers NOT having a MAP policy can be bad because it diminishes the perceived value of a product when a retailer wants to use a particular marketing strategy to get people to come to their store or website which includes somewhat of a “sacrificial lamb” of a product and price.? It also hurts the other retailers (especially the little guys and entrepreneurs) that carry the same product, because most can not compete with the lower price of the big guys who often get tremendous volume discounts.? On the other side… it’s a free market economy, right??? ?

This issue came up yesterday when a friend of mine called me to say “Leslie… You are in Parenting Magazine!!”? I had no idea that my product was going to be featured (through one of my customer/retailers) in the December/January Issue of Parenting Magazine in their gift guide section.? Pretty darn cool huh??!!!? THEN I noticed the price listed.? Now I’m not going to tell you the price for two reasons.? #1) the price in not correct, even with the retailer that promoted the product to be in the magazine in the first place.? And #2) I don’t want you to get any ideas.? There is no way I will EVER be able to sell my product at that price listed there and even if a retailer was crazy enough to, they would be losing money hand over fist!? Which makes me wonder…. Was this a typo?? Regardless, this whole issue has brought the topic of MAP pricing back to the forefront of my mind.? For those of you that are not in the biz, as consumers it is good of you to know what MAP polices exist. I’m going to link you to a post that explains the whole process a little better from a consumer’s stand point.? The article is a little old, but I still very relevant especially this holiday shopping season.?

http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2006/03/10/bestbuycoms-map-policy-workaround/?

If I don’t talk to you before, HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!?

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Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products, Inventor of Grill Charmsâ„¢? www.grillcharms.com?

Category : The Journey of Grill Charms!