ThriveMarket.com's Digital Shelf - January 2023

I am hoping to share a little trick to get rid of some of the small sharks out there messing up your channels. Unauthorized Sellers are really a PITA and can cause a lot of damage through price erosion do to automatic repricing. Our <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/map-violation-monitoring">minimum advertised price monitoring software</a>&nbsp;routinely uncovers&nbsp;these unauthorized sellers through the course of monitoring product prices and 3p sellers. Those brands who sell on <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/amazon-price-tracking">Amazon</a> know the pain these 3p sellers cause, and the havoc they can wreak if they take over the buybox.&nbsp;

First, lets cover the basics.&nbsp;

<hr />
<h2>What is an Unauthorized Seller?&nbsp;</h2>

An unauthorized seller&nbsp;is a business or individual that is not officially recognized by the manufacturer or brand owner to sell their products online. These sellers do not have permission to sell the brand&#39;s products and are not allowed to sell new, authentic products from the brand. They may also not have access to special pricing and promotions, and may not be able to offer warranties and returns on products. Unauthorized sellers are often known as counterfeit sellers, or gray market sellers, and they often sell products that are not genuine or are not covered under the manufacturer&#39;s warranty. These sellers may sell goods at lower prices than authorized sellers, but the authenticity and quality of the products can be questionable.

<hr />
<h2>Ok, so what&#39;s the trick?</h2>

First we will start with the premise that most of your brand&#39;s unauthorized sellers on Amazon are acquiring their stock through close-outs or similar unauthorized channels. If that premise is accepted then the trick is to purchase the limited stock that is available from these gray market sellers to get them off of your product listing.&nbsp;

Another benefit is that if it is FBM (fulfilled by merchant) then you can start backing into who that unauthorized seller is.&nbsp;

<h2>Go to the Amazon product detail page and example the seller list</h2>

<img alt="Amazon Unauthorized 3P Sellers" src="https://cloud.frigginyeah.com/s/Ztww3oBQswJxYx9/preview" style="height:623px; width:500px" />

<h2>Option 1 - Add to cart on the seller popout.&nbsp;</h2>

For some sellers you will be able to see if they have anywhere from 1 - 5 available to be purchased. But, if you see &quot;5&quot; then add it to your cart and look at the below.&nbsp;

<img alt="Amazon Unauthorized 3P Sellers Add to Cart" src="https://cloud.frigginyeah.com/s/58eNNTajoHLyyTE/preview" style="height:116px; width:300px" />

<h2>Option 2 - in Cart add additional quantity</h2>

When it&#39;s in your cart you are presented with the same drop down. But here you will get an accurate representation of how many products the unauthorized seller has.&nbsp;

<img alt="Amazon Cart" src="https://cloud.frigginyeah.com/s/YAq9f7yBsPH8tJ8/preview" style="height:93px; width:300px" />

<h2>Add 100 and see what Amazon shares back of what they have in stock</h2>

<img alt="amazon a lot of available products" src="https://cloud.frigginyeah.com/s/WFgk7MFMYpf3fai/preview" style="width:300px" />

If the unauthorized seller does not have that number available you will see something like this warning message.&nbsp;

<img alt="stock availability warning message " src="https://cloud.frigginyeah.com/s/iCFq8Fi5JDzPMzs/preview" style="height:70px; width:300px" />

If they have a lot of stock then you might see something like this. Which is successfully adding the 100 to your cart.&nbsp;

<img alt="amazon in stock" src="https://cloud.frigginyeah.com/s/ACGKFWxXSfN3nnr/preview" style="height:91px; width:300px" />

It&#39;s pretty easy to buy up all the folks that have 1-3 products available. But when going through this process if you come across someone like the example above that has over 100 products in stock and ready to ship then you need to treat those sellers a bit differently. They represent a leaky distrbution channel and that will require a different process to figure out who they are and start clawing them back. We will cover that in another post.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Unauthorized Sellers Getting You Down?

<h1>What is MAP?</h1>

MAP, or Minimum Advertised Price, is the lowest price that a brand distributor allows a product to be advertised.&nbsp;

<h2>What does that mean for eCommerce retailers or marketplaces?&nbsp;</h2>

If the price is below your MAP agreement or <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/reseller-agreements">Reseller Agreement</a> and is shown on the list page or on the detail page then that would be a MAP violation. How you enforce your MAP agreement will largely depend on what MAP policy you have in place between yourselves and the seller.&nbsp;

<h2>But Amazon is a <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/map-violation-monitoring">MAP violator</a>, what can I do?&nbsp;</h2>

Not much. At least as far as Amazon is concerned. Amazon will not adhere or comply with your MAP policy, even if you threaten them. Instead they will point the finger back at you and tell you that someone else is selling at or below their price.&nbsp;

Amazon uses price automation software, just like we do here at FrigginYeah, to monitor the various channels your products are sold on. So one of the first things you should do is take stock of all your channels and see if you can find out where Amazon might be repricing to and force that retailer to comply with your MAP agreement.&nbsp;

<h2>But it&rsquo;s a 3rd Party on Amazon, what can I do?&nbsp;</h2>

This is a tough one. If the 3rd party seller is violating your MAP agreement and you do not know who they are or how they are getting your product then you will need to research them and see what you can find out. A couple of options are:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>If it&rsquo;s Fulfilled By Merchant - buy the product and then request a return to get their return address.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>If it&rsquo;s Fulfilled by Amazon - see how many products they have in stock. Most unauthorized or gray market sellers have shallow stock and your best/easiest course of action is to buy all the stock that is available. Then you can inspect the products to see if you can find out how they got them. If you are lucky you acquire all the excess stock and your pricing normalizes. If you are not then you will need to start working backwards to figure out how they are getting access to your product.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<h2>The retailer says they didn&rsquo;t drop the price first, what now?&nbsp;</h2>

If it&rsquo;s Amazon violating MAP then like mentioned above you need to figure out who else has a low price and enforce your MAP policy there first.&nbsp;

If it&rsquo;s not Amazon, and your MAP policy doesn&rsquo;t specifically have some call out about first movers (most do not), then it doesn&rsquo;t matter who dropped price first. The seller has signed your MAP agreement in good faith that they would adhere to it, now they are violating your MAP. So no matter who dropped price first

<h2>Why will retailers not want to sign your MAP policy?&nbsp;</h2>

Firstly, retailers may feel that they are being restricted in their ability to price products competitively, which can limit their ability to attract customers and increase sales. They may also feel that MAP policies limit their ability to offer discounts or promotions to customers.

Secondly, retailers may feel that they are being put at a disadvantage compared to other retailers who are not bound by a MAP policy. For example, if you do not have tight distribution methods an unauthorized reseller who is not bound by a MAP policy may be able to offer lower prices than a retailer who is bound by a MAP policy, which can give the unauthorized reseller an advantage.

Thirdly, retailers may feel that they are being asked to agree to a policy that is not in their best interest. They may feel that they are being asked to accept a policy that is primarily intended to protect the interests of the manufacturer or distributor, rather than their own interests.

Finally, retailers may feel that enforcement of MAP policy is difficult to enforce and often arbitrary. Retailers may feel that they are being held to a standard that is difficult to meet, and that the enforcement of MAP policy is not consistent across different retailers.

Overall, retailers may see MAP policies as a restriction on their ability to compete in the marketplace and may be hesitant to agree to them.

This will be an ongoing&nbsp;series of posts about What MAP is and what Brands may face when trying to track, identify, and enforce their MAP policies.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

What is MAP? Part 1

Monitoring Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) on Amazon is a must&nbsp;for businesses looking to protect their brand and pricing strategy. MAP is the lowest price at which a manufacturer or distributor allows a product to be advertised. By enforcing a MAP policy, businesses can ensure that their products are being advertised at fair and competitive prices, which helps to protect the integrity of their brand, fight price erosion, and reduce overall channel conflict.&nbsp;&nbsp;

There are three main ways to monitor MAP on Amazon: manual monitoring, automated monitoring with a web scraping tool, and using a <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/map-violation-monitoring">MAP monitoring service</a>. In this blog post, we will lightly explore each of these methods in more detail and discuss the pros and cons of each.

Manual Monitoring

Manual monitoring of MAP on Amazon involves manually searching for and checking the prices of your products on the platform. This can be done by manually searching for your products on Amazon and checking the prices against your established MAP policy.

The main advantage of manual monitoring is that it gives you complete control over the process. However, it also has several disadvantages. Firstly, it can be time-consuming, especially if you have a large number of products or if you have a lot of 3P sellers on Amazon. Secondly, it can be difficult to keep track of all the prices and is prone to human error, even more so if you have a lot of products or if prices change frequently. Finally, it can be quite difficult to detect when a price changes. A lot of savvy, albeit unscrupulous sellers, will make the conscious decision to violate your MAP policy after hours therefore negating your ability to catch them in the act. This in turn will cause other sellers who use automated repricing solutions to drop and thus begins the cycle of &ldquo;...we didn&rsquo;t drop price first&hellip;&rdquo;.&nbsp;

Automated Monitoring with a Web Scraping Tool&nbsp;

Automated monitoring of MAP on Amazon with a web scraping tool involves using scraping software (on-premise or a SaaS solution) to automate the process of searching (list pages)&nbsp; and checking prices (on product detail pages, if the tool or proxy it uses is worth its weight in salt).. There are several software options available that can automatically check prices on Amazon.&nbsp;

The main advantage of price monitoring with a web scraping tool is it can be cheaper to build and maintain (we will get into Total Cost of Ownership in another blog post) than using a service and it can scale better than undertaking price monitoring manually. However, it also has disadvantages. Firstly, it can initially be time consuming to configure and setup. The setup requires you to manage the web scraping process/team/platform, sometimes even build the web scrapers, as well as manage your products and the ASINs (Amazon Standard Identification Number) for each product. Secondly, you will then need to monitor the scraping performance as well as review the data for accuracy before you ever begin to start your MAP compliance process with your resellers.&nbsp; Secondly, it may not be able to detect all violations, this occurs when you have not set up the software correctly (junk in / junk out) or if the tool you are using is being blocked by Amazon. Finally, it may not track prices for new listings that appear on Amazon with different ASINs if you have not configured a proper lookup process to feed the detail page process.&nbsp;

Using a MAP Monitoring Service

Using a service&nbsp;for <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/amazon-price-tracking">Amazon MAP monitoring</a>&nbsp;involves outsourcing the process to a third-party company, like us here at FrigginYeah. Of course there are several companies that offer MAP monitoring services beyond us and those services can include monitoring, alerts, and reporting. All these services are not created equal. Some are super expensive and offer other services beyond just MAP monitoring / Price Monitoring which may get confusing and expensive (that&rsquo;s their goal). While others can be dirt cheap but fall down with scale, be it the number of products or number of websites you are looking to monitor.&nbsp;

The main advantage of using a service is that it can save time and make it easier to keep track of prices. Additionally, a service is responsible for the full lifecycle of your MAP monitoring project. So if a website changes, or fields a new blocking solution, it&rsquo;s on the service to rebuild the code to accommodate these changes. If you are currently being charged for maintenance + a subscription <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/contact-us">we should talk!</a>&nbsp; The main disadvantage is the cost of service, which can seem higher than that of a web scraping tool, or manually monitoring. However here at FrigginYeah our Amazon MAP monitoring software is an industry leader in providing quality, accurate, and on-time price monitoring for an economical price.&nbsp;

In conclusion, monitoring MAP on Amazon is essential for businesses looking to protect their brand and pricing strategy. There are several methods available, including manual monitoring, automated monitoring with a web scraping tool, and using a MAP monitoring service. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, and businesses should consider their specific needs and resources before choosing a method. We are always happy to chat and advise what we believe is the best solution for your business. We were consultants before we built our service and always work to ensure you are getting the right solution for your business.

&nbsp;

How to Monitor MAP on Amazon

The gray market, also known as the parallel market or unofficial market, refers to the buying and selling of goods through channels that are not authorized by the manufacturer, brand or trademark owner. These goods are often genuine products that have been manufactured for the legitimate market, but they are sold outside of the manufacturer&#39;s approved distribution channels.

One way that gray market goods can enter the market is through parallel imports, you may also have heard of this as product diversion, which occurs when a product is legally purchased in one country and then sold in another without the authorization of the trademark owner. This can happen when a product is in high demand and the price is lower in one country compared to another. For example, a product that is sold for a lower price in a country with a weaker currency may be imported and sold for a higher price in a country with a stronger currency.

The gray market can have a significant impact on brands and manufacturers. One of the main concerns is that gray market goods can dilute the value of a brand by undercutting the prices of legitimate products. This can lead to confusion among consumers, who may not be able to tell the difference between a gray market product and a legitimate product, and can also lead to lost sales for manufacturers and authorized distributors.&nbsp;

Another concern is that gray market goods may not be subject to the same quality control standards as legitimate products, which can lead to safety concerns and damage to a brand&#39;s reputation. This can also damage the manufacturer&#39;s image when a consumer seeks a warranty claim that cannot / will not be honored because it was purchased from a gray market seller. Additionally, gray market goods can also impact the ability of manufacturers to control their distribution networks, which can make it difficult to ensure that products are being sold in the intended markets and at the intended prices.

One strategy that manufacturers can use to combat the gray market is setting and enforcing <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/reseller-agreements">Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies</a>. A MAP policy is a manufacturer&#39;s suggested minimum price for a product, and it is meant to prevent retailers from advertising a product at a price that is below the manufacturer&#39;s suggested minimum.

MAP policies can help prevent retailers from undercutting the prices of legitimate products and can also help to preserve the value of a brand. However, it&#39;s important to note that MAP policies can be difficult to enforce, as retailers can still sell products at a lower price, they just can&#39;t advertise it. Additionally, some countries have regulations that can limit the ability of manufacturers to enforce these policies.

In conclusion, the gray market refers to the buying and selling of goods through channels that are not authorized by the manufacturer or trademark owner. This can happen through parallel imports or the diversion of goods.The gray market can have a negative impact on brands and manufacturers as it can dilute the value of a brand, lead to safety concerns and damage reputation. One strategy to combat the gray market is setting and enforcing<a href="https://frigginyeah.com/map-violation-monitoring"> Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies </a>and Reseller Agreements. But we will be honest dealing with the gray market is no simple task and cannot be solved with agreements alone. It requires diligence, good data, and constant pressure by the manufacturer.

What's the Gray Market?

Enforcing a minimum advertised price (MAP) policy can be a challenging task, and it is important for brands to approach MAP enforcement with care. Here are the top three things NOT to do when enforcing your MAP policy:

<ol>
	<li>Do not be overly aggressive or confrontational from the get go: It is important to approach <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/map-violation-monitoring">MAP enforcement</a> in a professional and respectful manner. From feedback from a lot of the top brands on our platform the majority of MAP violations are honest mistakes and will usually be quickly fixed. Do not be aggressive or confrontational with resellers, as this can damage relationships and create more problems than it solves. Introducing additional channel conflict (e.g. MAP violations + damaged reseller relationships) are not a combination for a winning scenario.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Do not be inconsistent: It is important to be consistent in the way that you enforce your MAP policy. Do not apply different standards to different resellers, as this can create confusion, resentment, and may even legally put your brand at risk or invalidate any legal standing you have in litigation.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Do not ignore MAP violations: Ignoring MAP violations will only make the problem worse. It is important to take swift and decisive action when a violation is discovered, in order to protect the value and reputation of your products and the future enforceability of your MAP agreement or Reseller agreements. This is one of the reasons we recommend brands monitor their resellers at least once a day.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>

It is important to approach MAP enforcement with care. By avoiding these three things, brands can better protect the value and reputation of their products and maintain healthy relationships with resellers.

Top 3 things NOT to do when enforcing your MAP agreement.

top 3 things not to do when enforcing your map agreement. 

<a href="https://frigginyeah.com/map-violation-monitoring">Minimum advertised price (MAP) monitoring</a> is a crucial aspect of ecommerce brand management, and this is especially true during times of economic recession. Here are a few reasons why MAP monitoring is important in a recession:

<ol>
	<li>
	Protecting brand reputation and customer loyalty: During a recession, consumers may be more price-sensitive and more likely to shop around for the best deal. If your brand&#39;s products are being advertised and sold at significantly discounted prices by unauthorized resellers, it can hurt the brand&#39;s reputation and lead to a loss of customer loyalty. By enforcing a MAP policy and ensuring that resellers are adhering to it, brand managers can help to protect the brand&#39;s reputation and encourage customer loyalty.
	</li>
	<li>
	Maintaining control over pricing: In a recession, it&#39;s especially important for brand managers to maintain control over pricing in order to protect the brand&#39;s bottom line. Allowing resellers to advertise and sell products at significantly discounted prices can lead to price erosion, where customers come to expect lower prices and are less likely to pay full price for the product. By enforcing a MAP policy, brand managers can help to prevent price erosion and ensure that customers are willing to pay a fair price for the brand&#39;s products.
	</li>
	<li>
	Promoting a level playing field: During a recession, it&#39;s common for businesses to become more competitive as they try to maintain profits and stay afloat. Allowing some resellers to advertise and sell products at significantly discounted prices can create an uneven playing field, with some resellers undercutting others and potentially driving them out of business. By enforcing a MAP policy, brand managers can help to level the playing field and ensure that all resellers are able to compete fairly.
	</li>
	<li>
	Ensuring compliance with MAP agreements: Many brands enter into MAP agreements with their resellers, which outline the minimum price at which the brand&#39;s products can be advertised and sold. It&#39;s especially important to enforce these agreements during a recession, as it can help to protect the brand&#39;s legal interests and avoid potential legal issues.
	</li>
	<li>
	Maintaining control over the brand&#39;s image: During a recession, it&#39;s important for brand managers to maintain control over the brand&#39;s image in order to maintain customer loyalty and drive sales. Allowing resellers to advertise and sell products at significantly discounted prices can lead to a loss of control over the brand&#39;s image, as customers may perceive the brand as being of lower quality or less desirable if they can get the same product for a much lower price from another seller. By enforcing a MAP policy, brand managers can help to maintain control over the brand&#39;s image and ensure that customers have a consistent and positive experience with the brand.
	</li>
</ol>

Overall, MAP monitoring is an important aspect of ecommerce brand management, and this is especially true during times of economic recession. By establishing and enforcing a clear and consistent MAP policy, monitoring advertised prices, and taking action when necessary, brand managers can help to protect the brand&#39;s reputation, maintain customer loyalty, promote a level playing field, prevent price erosion, ensure compliance with MAP agreements, and maintain control over the brand&#39;s image. All of these factors can ultimately help to drive sales and increase profits for the brand, even in challenging economic times.

MAP Monitoring, more important than ever.

map monitoring, more important than ever. 

ThriveMarket is an online grocery store who&#39;s original mission of providing high-quality shelf stable products at a fraction of the price has continued to expand. As such this expansion has made more and more 3rd parties interested in monitoring its digitial shelf.&nbsp;

Now they offer not only the existing brands they&#39;ve launched with but have continued to expand their categories through the addition of other&nbsp;known brands and they have started to white label under their own branding. Furthermore they have moved into frozen goods. Though the latter is of less interest at the moment.

We leveraged our advanced scraping technologies to automatically scrape the hundreds of brands and thousands of products that are available. We&#39;ve even pinpointed on a large chunk of products that have Minimum Advertised Price violations, but that wasn&#39;t the goal here.&nbsp;

Our plan is to continue to monitor Thrive Market month over month doing product and price scraping. We will then levreage that data and provide these free high-level reports on what we believe are interesting Thrive Market KPI&#39;s.&nbsp;

If you might be interested in more detailed data please drop us a <a href="https://frigginyeah.com/contact-us">note</a>.<img alt="" src="https://cloud.frigginyeah.com/s/J5bWGkTWQTpGLKo" /><img alt="" src="https://cloud.frigginyeah.com/s/J5bWGkTWQTpGLKo/preview" style="height:2047px; width:700px" />

ThriveMarket.com's Digital Shelf - June 2022

thrivemarket.com's digital shelf - june 2022

We are still at it and in our 7th week of price monitoring back to school supplies there continues to be more interesting things that are coming to light. Using our PricingIQ product we are price tracking 24 must have back to school products products across Amazon, Walmart, Office Depot, and Target. (See the full product list here: https://www.frigginyeah.com/2017/06/30/back-to-school-shopping-with-price-monitoring-sorry-parents/)

Retailers reselling cheaper on Marketplaces

Oddly &ndash; Office Depot sells some products cheaper through the Amazon Marketplace than they do on their own website. Our price tracking shows several products that have cheaper daily pricing anywhere from 2%-8% sold by Office Depot on Amazon.&nbsp;I am not sure why this happens &ndash; but have a few theories that I want to vet before sharing.

Bad Product Pricing Data

Even more Odd &ndash; Some Marketplace sellers just have horrible data loaded for products they are hawking.

I see this as primarily an Amazon problem. The Mega Deals (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?me=AY2ANYVC1YIBT&amp;merchant=AY2ANYVC1YIBT&amp;qid=1501010590" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/s?me=AY2ANYVC1YIBT&amp;merchant=AY2ANYVC1YIBT&amp;qid=1501010590</a>) seems to be one of the worst offenders based on the data we are extracting. I am not sure what measures Amazon has in place, if any, to protect a reseller against themselves &ndash; but I do believe (anecdotally) that Walmart does a better job at policing this.

Price Tracking

We continue to see what we believe is price tracking and price matching between the marketplaces (Amazon and Walmart) across several products. Though in one case we saw Target and Office Depot get into the action, still not directly price competitive mind you, after big price drops on Amazon and Walmart. Texas Instrument&rsquo;s graphing calculator (TI-84) is a perfect example of what might fall under price matching and price tracking as well as maybe a Brand just reducing its minimum advertised price policy.

Bad Website | Unavailable Products?

Walmart seems the biggest offender here where products are listed on its list page, or as a suggested product in a twister but when you click on that product it is not available. This is not a one-off problem as Walmart will, and has been, return this page for Dixon&rsquo;s Ticonderoga 30PK of pencils for two months (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ticonderoga-Pre-Sharpened-Pencil-HB-2-Yellow-Barrel-30-Pack), it does not work not matter how hard you try yet its prominently displayed on the site and has actually had price movements from $5.97 to $5.77 over the past two months. I guess if all else fails its always available from The Mega Deals on Amazon for $647!

&nbsp;

The Bad Website functionality and Bad Data are two challenges that make our lives difficult from a product perspective and for our customers as data consumer. The first reaction is the product is broke and we pull our hair trying to figure out what is going on only to see that the old proverb &ldquo;Junk in / Junk out&rdquo; still remains true.

We have another 30 days left running this little experiment and we are hoping to learn more. So far we have taken several points we have identified and used those to improve our product from a consumer of data angle opposed to a provider of data &ndash; its a win/win so I am hoping for a lot more over this last bit before we move on to our next data run.

Back to School Monitoring Week 7

back to school monitoring week 7

I was surprised to find that while looking at the product pricing data we are monitoring for MAP violations an odd occurrence.

I kept seeing products priced higher on eBay than on the Retailer&rsquo;s site. At first I thought there was probably a shipping component that I was missing, but that wasn&rsquo;t the case. Both product pages offer free shipping. So the only difference is that if you bought that product off of eBay instead of Wayfair then 6 out of the 7 days you were paying a premium.

While this is definitely not anything conclusive it&rsquo;s interesting enough to compel me to pull back the onion layers even more. So more to follow soon on that&hellip;

As a side note I am happy to report that in our price monitoring all of these products I looked at were in compliance with the Brand&rsquo;s minimum advertised price agreements! We&rsquo;ve helped reduce these MAP violations from over 1k a day down to less than around 75 daily.

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ThriveMarket.com's Di ...

Unauthorized Sellers ...

What is MAP? Part 1

How to Monitor MAP on ...

What's the Gray Market?

Top 3 things NOT to d ...

MAP Monitoring, more ...

ThriveMarket.com's Di ...

Back to School Monito ...

Is eBay really cheaper?

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