Many consumers attach a specific value to the price they pay for particular products. And this influences brand perception, which affects sales. To get all the resellers in your network to toe the line, it’s not enough to have a MAP policy in place. The raging competition can encourage some sellers to breach the terms of the agreement to drive more sales. A MAP policy keeps the vendors in your network from undercutting prices and ruining your brand image. With this technology, you can help avoid pricing wars that can prove ruinous to your brand.
Equalize the Playing Field
When your distributors can’t undercut each other to generate sales, they focus on looking for different ways to gain an edge and increase sales. It means that they will focus on providing quality and value to incentivize customers to buy from them. That gets you and your brand off the hook as a bargaining chip and keeps your products from becoming a casualty of a costly price war.
Attracting and retaining customers is the key to business success. Undercutting prices is an incredible way to attract both foot and web traffic. By taking away this distinct advantage that could hurt you in the long run, you even the playing field. It means that these businesses have to get creative with their marketing and advertising strategies. An even playing field lets you persuade more stores to carry your range of products.
Safeguard Your Brand Image
The price tag attached to a product has a considerable influence on the customer’s perception of your brand. High prices cause them to view your products as high-quality and valuable. They believe that your product makes a worthwhile purchase. However, if they realize that they can source them for cheap, two unfortunate things happen.
One, they will wait out the high prices only to snap up the products when the prices fall to the bottom. That will lead to declining sales for your business, severely hurting your bottom line. Alternatively, your brand gets watered down to the point of losing its appeal to the target market.
Safeguard Your Market Share
If you sell premium products, your target market has no problem paying above market prices for the privilege. Such products set them apart from the rest, and they often will use them to make a statement. The haphazard lowering of prices takes away their bragging rights. There’s no point in buying a luxury item at a premium only to have a friend claim that they got the same thing at a fraction of the cost.
That’s enough to have even your most loyal customers decamping to the competition. Having a minimum advertised policy in place helps to protect the exclusivity of your brand. It keeps your target market happy about their ability to afford premium products that let them stand out.
Creating a large following of loyal consumers is the key to building a successful brand of products. Therefore, you need to take proactive measures to preserve the perceived brand image and value in the eyes of the consumer. Maintaining a constant price or one that does vary radically among resellers is a great start.
