Underselling a Product Hurts Companies

SAINT MARTINVILLE, La. - May 9, 2013 - PRLog -- You want to buy a crossbow. For an example, we’ll use the Barnett Quad 400. The map price is $399.99. This is the price that Barnett sells the Quad 400 for.

In today's business situation, nothing is more important and hurtful to a company's product and brand than the propagation of online retailing and the compounding issue of downward pressure on advertised prices. Brands are losing millions, if not billions of dollars in equity every day as advertised prices are pushed lower and existing sales channels are divest from product lines that don't guard their interests.

Manufactured Advertising Pricing (MAP) is set on products by various manufacturers. This is the price set by the manufacturers not to be under­sold. Break MAP at your own risk. Retailers who walk this line should be very careful. Even if you are diligent, you can easily get caught breaking MAP. There are spy businesses out there who charge 6 figures a month to mystery shop online retailers. They do this for the manufacturer and lots of retailers have been caught.

MAP pricing is wonderful. It would be even more wonderful if the competition followed suit.

I know! I know! You, the consumer, don’t want to pay more for a product, especially in this economy. Well then, look for discounts, free shipping or a free gift with purchase. You can also comparison shop. You really can find great options!