ORIS Intelligence Report Finds Pricing Violations Increase 179 Percent During Holiday Season
Columbus, OH (PRWEB) November 15, 2017 -- ORIS Intelligence, provider of actionable insights that preserve pricing integrity for manufacturers, today released new data on holiday season pricing trends. This year, holiday retail sales are expected to increase four percent, reaching $682 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. The latest ORIS Intelligence Report finds that in addition to the increase in daily violations during last year’s holiday shopping season (December 20-28), the amount that is being undercut also increases – from 16.32 percent to 23.45 percent (a 44 percent increase).
“The average brand today has 85 domains selling their product, which makes them prime targets for pricing parity,” said Pamela Springer, president and CEO of ORIS Intelligence. “In order for today’s manufacturers to continue to deliver superior customer service and maintain seller relationships, a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy is critical, but the way they monitor and enforce it is ultimately the difference between winning and losing the price war. Our data speaks for itself, and shows that price undercutting is a serious problem during the busiest shopping season and throughout the year.”
The New Business of Brands
Today’s brands have to reinvent their go-to-market strategies to keep up with the ecommerce movement. In fact, many are focusing on selling direct to consumer, as it presents the highest margin for revenue and helps them regain control of their channels. For example, Nike is reducing the number of its retail partners from 30,000 to 40 major retail accounts worldwide will be designated full partners for Nike's digital sales efforts. But this is only an effective business strategy if (and only if) brands are committed to maintaining an effective MAP policy.
It’s also important to remember that retailers today are also becoming more selective about brands they will work with and sell and making buying decisions based on those brands that are committed to MAP.
The Amazon Effect
The new ORIS data shows Christmas Day was the peak time for price undercutting during the 2016 holiday season, while violations on the marketplace on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday undercut pricing by nearly 18 percent. Moreover, Amazon and third-party sellers on Amazon accounted for 41 percent of all of the price changes ORIS tracked during Black Friday to Cyber Monday during the 2016 holiday season.
It is critical that brands have a presence on Amazon, but those manufacturers who don’t monitor and understand MAP will have significant losses and issues controlling the integrity of their brand.
Peak Pricing Violations
ORIS insights show that last year, peak undercutting for non-Amazon (websites, eBay.com, jet.com, walmart.com, houzz.com, and sears.com) was on December 21. And Sunday is still the biggest day for price undercutting. Brands need to remember that unauthorized sellers are generally making price cuts and violating MAP when they think no one is looking, so these are the times to be even more vigilant, which is becoming increasingly difficult to do. Price violations increased 179 percent from December 20-28.
“We are focused on delivering quality products and a superior customer experience, so it is imperative that we take steps to protecting our pricing policies and ensuring only authorized sellers are offering our gear,” said Tony Meneghetti, COO of Timbuk2, the San Francisco-based pioneer of made-in-America customization and manufacturer of messenger bags, packs, and accessories. “ORIS has been a game-changer for us as it offers a truly comprehensive view into the data to help us maintain the integrity of our brand, which is particularly critical during the holiday season.”
For more information, visit http://www.orisintel.com.
About ORIS Intelligence
ORIS Intelligence delivers actionable insights that preserve pricing integrity for manufacturers to help them protect their brand. Built from the inside-out, ORIS Intelligence’s cloud-based platform helps solve the complex selling challenges of today’s manufacturers by patrolling and enforcing minimum advertised price (MAP) everywhere their products are sold online, including discovering unknown sellers. With ongoing, frequently-updated reports, a streamlined user interface and hands-on customer support, ORIS Intelligence lives at the intersection of all channels to ensure manufacturers can better support trusted retail partners, while maximizing margins and increasing revenue.
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Aimee Eichelberger, Superior Public Relations, +1 (312) 952-1528, [email protected]
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