Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) – What is it and why does it matter?
What it is… MAP is a voluntarily pricing agreement that all legitimate manufacturer-authorized retailers enter into with our USA suppliers (the manufacturers). According to such agreements, retailers can sell MAP restricted items for any price they choose, but may not display in any print or online advertising, a price below the Minimum Advertised Price. So, the item can be sold for any price, but only advertised for the manufacturer created MAP price. Minimum Advertised Pricing was implemented to create service-based competition amongst retailers. No longer could a handful of large sellers buy up the product base and set the market price. No longer could these sellers sacrifice concerned customer satisfaction and support by being the ‘only game in town’. Now, customers have a choice. Most major manufacturers have some level of MAP pricing in place: Wilson, Head, Prince, Dunlop, Babolat, ProKennex… the list goes on. From racquets to bags, shoes to string, the items on MAP lists are num
