The world of ecommerce is vast and continuously growing. Although Amazon may appear to be the most influential player, it's essential for brands to understand that it's just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Maintaining a consistent brand representation across this expansive digital landscape involves more than just pricing. To master the art of omni-channel product monitoring, brands must develop strategies that enable them to see the entire picture.
Broaden Your Perspective
Online, Amazon is a huge player, but they are not the only influencer. Other platforms, such as Walmart, eBay, and Google Shopping, also have significant clout. The diversity in these platforms is crucial because it allows brands to have a broader perspective. This comprehensive view helps brands tackle challenges head-on, such as undesired discounts, distribution disruptions, intellectual property breaches, or misleading listings. These challenges can significantly affect how consumers perceive a brand, making it essential for brands to keep a watchful eye on every corner of the digital marketplace.
Understanding Your Omni-Channel Objectives
Before diving into monitoring strategies, it's vital to understand what you're aiming to achieve.
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MAP Monitoring: Consumers shopping for discounts are always hunting to find the best deals. And sellers, irrespective of their size and eager to gain sales (even low-margin sales), are always vigilant in scanning the market, ready to match or undercut prices from any source. If you're solely concentrating on Amazon, you may be overlooking a substantial portion of the market. By expanding your monitoring scope, you can ensure that your pricing remains competitive across all channels.
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Authorized vs. Unauthorized Resellers: It's frustrating to invest time and money in building a brand, only to have unauthorized sellers and diverters misrepresent it. To preserve the integrity of the brand, it's essential to be vigilant and allow only approved sellers who comply with distribution strategies, branding guidelines and pricing structures to list their products. Unauthorized listings can damage the brand's equity, leading to potential reputation damage, discounting, and intellectual property infringements.
Crafting a Comprehensive Monitoring Strategy
To stay ahead of the competition, brands should focus on two important aspects: keeping a close eye on the market trends and anticipating any changes that might affect their products, as well as understanding the dynamics of the seller landscape. By doing so, brands can stay ahead of the curve and maintain a competitive edge in the market.
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Proactive Discovery: Nowadays, relying only on reactive measures is no longer enough to maintain a brand's reputation. Brands must adopt a proactive approach to not only detect MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) violations but also potentially damaging and unauthorized listings. This requires a thorough and comprehensive approach that covers both elements. Each element will dictate its own compliance strategy, ensuring brands are protected from all angles.
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Decoding the Seller Landscape: Sellers often undergo transformations such as changing their name or operating through different storefronts - it can be like a game of Whack-A-Mole. For brands, having a clear understanding of this fluid environment is crucial. Identifying who the sellers are, where they have stores (many often have a dozen or more), and how they got your products can make all the difference in ensuring successful brand representation and avoiding a fragmented brand image.
MAPP Trap: The Omni-Channel Solution
Enter MAPP Trap: a tool designed for the modern ecommerce age. Tailored to address the complexities of the omni-channel world, MAPP Trap not only helps analyze the market and assist in creating strategies and policies, but it then detects MAP violations but also roots out and helps to remove unauthorized sellers. By equipping brands with the tools to understand the diverse seller landscape, MAPP Trap ensures brand consistency, reputation protection, and genuine representation across all channels.
The world of ecommerce is multifaceted. To thrive, brands must embrace a holistic product monitoring approach, recognizing the unique challenges and opportunities each channel presents. By doing so, they can ensure they're not just another brand in the crowd but a force to be reckoned with.