As you are probably aware, many products that we manufacture and distribute at KJB have a Minimum Advertised Price (“MAP Price”). As the name implies, this MAP price is the lowest price that our dealers are able to advertise a particular product for. For example, the MAP Price on the SleuthGear Recluse is $499, meaning that no matter which one of our dealers an end-user buys this product from, no one is advertising the product lower than $499.
Why do we do this? For several reasons:
- To Protect the Integrity of the Brand - In the retail world, especially on the internet, there always exists a “race to the bottom”, in which one retailer undercuts another on price, who then lowers their price, causing other people to lower their price. This results in the devaluing of the product’s image, despite the fact that the product may be a very high-end item.
- To Extend the Sales Lifecycle of the Product – The “race to the bottom” in price will also shorten the sales-lifespan of the product. As the price gets lower and lower, this will allow for cheap knockoffs to enter the market, and for end users to not be able to differentiate between the real thing, and a cheap copy. For an example of this, simply look at the video pen market. Where great profits used to exist, there is now a sea of low-quality products all competing for the lowest price, rather than focus on quality.
- To Guarantee YOU Profits – By guaranteeing that everyone who is selling our MAP priced products doesn’t advertise prices below a certain point, we make sure there is an automatic profit built in to every sale.
- To Ensure You Don’t Have to Worry about Competing on Price – By selling and adhering to MAP prices, you never have to worry about competing on price. This is because everyone else selling the product will be selling it for at least the MAP price, so you can focus on other ways to grow your business and improve your customer experience.
At KJB,
we constantly monitor and are on the lookout for MAP violations. We do this so you don't have to worry about making sure everyone is following the rules. Most of the time these violations are simple pricing mistakes, but in other cases we have found the violations to be deliberate. Advertising below MAP prices not only violates your dealer agreement with KJB, but also means less money in your pocket by not selling a product at its true value. Deliberate and repeated MAP violations can also result in losing your preferred dealer pricing.
We can’t stress enough the important of adhering to MAP pricing, and know that by adhering to these prices, you will increase your profits, and make sure you never have to worry about competing on price. This way, you can focus on differentiating yourself from your competition, and continue to grow and prosper.
