PRICE MONITORING AND POLICY ENFORCEMENT

How is Price Discounting Hurting Your Brand?

The online sales channel is a highly competitive landscape, run rampant with price discounting. The current economic condition only intensifies the competition, as consumers are flocking to the Internet for bargains on their favorite brands. Resellers are embattled in a price war to win over consumers. While consumers may benefit in the short-run, the manufacturer’s brand loses in the long-run as its value is diminished over time. Manufacturers must protect their brand’s image from being tarnished by discounting to allow retailers to maintain enough profit for customer service. A July 2007 Supreme Court ruling altered the anti-trust law on minimum pricing by declaring that MAP policy agreements between manufacturers and retailers are not illegal. Since the ruling, manufacturers have been rushing to implement MAP policies to protect their brand from devaluation. But simply establishing a MAP policy may not be enough to discourage resellers from violating the policy. In order to combat this problem, manufacturers must monitor and enforce the channel for pricing violations. That’s where Brand Weasel can help.

Do you know HOW MUCH your products are being sold for online? Brand Weasel can help you find out.

• Brand Weasel scours the Internet for pricing on your products and allows you to view the results in a pre-formatted report for easy analysis of violations
• Easy to use report allows you to select which violators to notify for enforcement
• Automated violation notification process helps to ensure compliance of your policies
• Dedicated brand experts help analyze your current pricing policies to determine your rights to enforce and provide actionable steps to stop pricing violations