Mavic Inc. has hired an online price monitoring, brand protection, and channel management agency to manage its Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy online.
The agency, Channel IQ, will enable Mavic to quickly and accurately spot unauthorized discounting that can damage sales for their network of authorized retailers and erode the brand’s positioning and value in the marketplace.
Managing Director Philip Sporidis said that in his first year at Mavic, web pricing emerged as the number one issue during visits with independent dealers.
“This partnership with Channel IQ shows that as an organization, we have listened and that we are 100 percent committed to working with our dealer network and building strong partnerships.”
Mavic implemented a MAP policy several years ago, but enforcing it has become increasingly complex as the company has added resellers, said Zack Vestal, communications manager for Mavic Inc.’s U.S. headquarters in Haverhill, MA. Mavic is owned by Amer Sports, the Finnish company that also owns Salomon, Atomic, Arc’teryx, Suunto and Precor.
“Dealers will report on anyone that they may consider a threat to their business,” said Vestal. “It’s an arduous process to decipher fact from fiction and making sure that we are also fair in our assessment as to who is a violator and who is not. This requires a lot of man hours and resources and is not a very efficient process. It is therefore more cost effective and objective to use a partner for this process.”
Depending on a brand’s particular policies, authorized dealers caught violating MAP can lose access to co-op advertising dollars and discounts, and even be terminated. Brands also use such services to spot unauthorized dealers so they can track down and seal leaks in their distribution channels. Specialty retailers’ opinions of MAP policies tend to hinge on their size. Smaller independents often support them if they are consistently enforced, while big box retailers generally oppose them as infringing on their autonomy.
“Mavic is strongly committed to the integrity of its MAP policy as it maintains value clarity for our consumers and our authorized dealer network,” said Sporidis. “Having a strong partner like Channel IQ will ensure the integrity of our policy and reduce confusion resulting from unauthorized online sellers and operators.”
