What is MAP? What you should know about it and how knowing will help save you money!

M.A.P. is an acronym which stands for “minimum advertised price.” It is a pricing method required by some manufacturers in an attempt to keep competition between distributors fair. It also helps to ensure the value of their products remain in tact. At this time two of our manufacturers use MAP pricing. SKB Cases and Pina Zangaro.

MAP Explained: When pricing falls under MAP guidelines then the product can only be advertised at a price specified by the manufacturer of the product. For example, say “SKB Case Corporation” sells their case to 3 distributors and tells them the MAP for that case is $20. This means none of the distributors are allowed to advertise that case less than $20. Hypothetically you could visit each distributor’s website and buy the case for the exact same amount of $20.

How You Save Money: The concept of “advertising” however is completely different then the concept of actually selling. For example if you were to look at the pricing of our SKB Injection Molded Cases I can tell you all of their prices fall under SKB’s MAP guidelines. If you want to bypass MAP however then you could give us a call and get different (lower) pricing over the phone. (It’s legal to do because it’s not advertised).

Be Aware: If your like me then you’ll do your homework before making a purchase, which usually means finding the lowest price on the internet before buying. There is something else to consider however. When it comes to products that fall within MAP there is another (sneaky) way companies find their way around it that could actually cost you more money.

Other companies know to call distributors to get lower pricing, so they’ll call, get lower pricing and then sell above their cost and below MAP. The consumer thinks they’re saving money buying it lower then MAP but in reality the consumer would have been able to get that discount if they would have been the ones to call instead.