Dive Gear Express operates in a difficult environment of hyper-competition within our industry. Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies are widespread among dive industry brands as a strategy to manage the self-destructive nature of hyper-competition on price. Increasingly many online dive retailers have adopted MAP evasion strategies. The problem is made even worse by the fact that many retailers have adopted a price match policy. Once any one retailer drops the price, or fails to raise prices following a published price increase by the vendor, competitors then price match. The proliferation of automated systems that automatically bid down marketplace prices to dominate the ‘buy box’ has just added fuel to the fire.
As a result, Dive Gear Express has our own pricing policy to formalize our handling of these problems:
- Our policy is to adhere to vendor MAP policy, when our competition also adheres to MAP policy. MAP pricing policy offers us a level playing field in which we are able to compete based on our value adds of customer service, product knowledge and extensive inventory stocking levels.
- Our policy is to publish a consistent price that matches the lowest published USD price on branded product, where we can determine the competing published price is from a named stocking US retailer that is authorized by the brand as a reseller. Our definition of published includes prices that offer 'coupons' or shopping cart discounts, ‘rewards’ points systems, ‘rebates’, auto-quote systems and pretty much all the tricks being used to get around MAP.
- Our policy is not to offer individual match price quotes directly to consumers at their request. However, we will investigate price discrepancies brought to our attention and if appropriate we will adjust our published price for all consumers. In our opinion, in the long term it is harmful to both the recreational dive industry and unfair to the consumer to engage in the practice of 'never undersold' marketing tactics.
- Our policy is that our vendors are solely responsible for providing the resources to administer their own pricing policies. We are not a policeman, an enforcer, or a secret shopper. Frankly, we also find it distasteful to be a whining tattletale.
- Our policy is to adjust any price within the same business day when notified by our vendors of a price change. If after 72 hours, our competition has not raised their price, we will again publish a matching price. If we are forced to perform this second price match, we will only raise our price when our competitors have first raised their published price.
The reality is MAP seems to be near disintegration, it is consumer hostile and is even illegal in most first world nations. We don't feel MAP is a viable strategy any longer, particularly in light of the internet where all retailers are just a click away from each other. We encourage dive industry suppliers to limit their internet sales channel to a manageable small number of quality internet partners that make the extra effort to stock inventory, showcase products, and who have a marketing plan that is not primarily based on discounting price, but instead based on adding value.