Why You Can’t See the Price Until Checkout

The Truth Behind MAP Pricing in Pet Retail

Picture this: you’re shopping online for your pet’s favorite food, you find the product, but the price is nowhere to be seen – until you add it to your cart… Frustrating, right? You’re not alone, and it’s not a trick or gimmick. As a pet retailer, and an online consumer, I get it. The reason is something called MAP Pricing – and it impacts both shoppers and small businesses!

What is MAP Pricing?

MAP stands for Minimum Advertised Price. It’s a policy set by manufacturers that dictates the lowest price a retailer can display publicly for their products. The key word here is “advertised” – not sold. Retailers can often sell an item for less than MAP, and maintain their margins, BUT, to remain in “compliance” with manufacturer guidelines, we can’t SHOW that lower price online, in ads, or catalogs. The goal? To protect brand value and ensure fair competition among retailers, big and small.

Why Retailers Hide Prices

As a customer, it’s understandable to feel frustrated when you can’t see a price upfront while shopping online. As retailers, we feel this too! Here’s our dilemma: we want to offer you the best deal possible – often even lower than the MAP, and prices that compete directly with big-box and online stores. However, we’re not allowed under MAP Policy Agreements to display that discount on our website or in ads. The only way to reveal the lower price is at checkout or after you add the item to your cart. It’s a balancing act between following manufacturer rules and giving you the savings you deserve.

How to Find the Best Deals Anyway

Want to outsmart the MAP game? Here are a few savvy shopper tips (that don’t only apply to Pet Food & Supplies Online)

• Add the item to your cart – MAP doesn’t apply at checkout
• Sign up for store emails – exclusive coupons often bypass MAP
• Look for MAP-excluded items – some brands don’t enforce MAP
• Ask in-store or call for the price – staff can often share prices not online
• Check the Subscribe & Save prices and work backwards saving time

Customer Frustration: We Hear You

We know it’s confusing and sometimes annoying not to see a price right away. We hear this feedback all the time from customers who just want to compare prices easily. As retailers, we wish we could be more transparent, but our hands are tied by MAP agreements. Personally, as a retailer, we lost the ability to sell an entire line of food because we were “lower than MAP” on our website without the price hidden by 38¢ for merely a few hours. They cut our supply off completely. The frustrating part is that big-box retailers often break MAP agreements and get not a slap on the wrist, as a small independent, we risk losing the ability to sell an entire brand.

The Bottom Line: Retailers Are on Your Side

When you see a hidden price, know that your retailer is working to save you money, not keep you in the dark. We’re always looking for ways to pass savings on to you within the rules we have to follow.