What is minimum advertised price (MAP), and how does it work in India?

The short definition

The lowest advertised price a brand allows its resellers to show, also called MAP pricing or a MAP policy. It limits the advertised price, not always the final price at checkout.

Part of the topic: Guide: discount depth and price against MRP

What minimum advertised price means

A brand sets a lowest advertised price for a product and asks resellers not to show a lower one in ads or listings. It is a private policy, not a law, and it is usually enforced through the brand's own terms with its resellers. The rule covers the price a reseller shows, so a shopper can still pay less once a checkout offer applies.

A MAP is written for one product or a range, and it names the price, the places it applies to and what the brand does when a reseller shows less.

MAP, MRP, selling price and price floor: the difference

Four prices are easy to mix up, and each one is set by someone different.

MAP is a floor set by the brand. MRP is a ceiling printed on the pack.

How it shows up in India

Quick commerce apps and marketplaces set their own discounts, often by city and sometimes by store, and bank or card offers apply at checkout. So Indian brand teams usually talk about depth below MRP and price parity across apps and pin codes, not MAP.

Indian competition law lists resale price maintenance, an agreement that resellers must sell at the price the supplier sets unless lower prices are clearly allowed, among agreements that can break the Competition Act, 2002 when they cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition (section 3(4)(e)). Take legal advice before you restrict a reseller's price.

Source: The Competition Act, 2002, from the Competition Commission of India

What a brand can check instead

Each of these checks needs the date, the pin code and the page the price came from.

• Depth below MRP: how far under the MRP each app sells, by app and pin code.
• Price parity: whether the same pack costs the same across apps, and across pin codes inside one app.
• Price over time: so a price cut can be compared with the lowest price of the previous 30 days.
• A dated source: keep the page address and time for any price you raise with a retailer.

A worked example, with invented numbers

Invented numbers. A shampoo has an MRP of 400. The brand's internal floor is 340. App A lists it at 352, App B at 330 and the brand's own site at 360.

App B is 10 below the floor. App A and the site are above it, and all three are under the MRP. Before you raise it, check the pack size, the date and the pin code, and whether a checkout offer changed the price.

Common mistakes

• Treating the MRP as a minimum. It is the most a shopper can be charged.
• Comparing different pack sizes, such as a 180 ml bottle on one app with a 340 ml bottle on another.
• Comparing a sale-day price on one app with an ordinary day on another.
• Reading a checkout coupon as the listed price.
• Treating a missing MRP as zero, which makes a price look above the MRP when it is not.

Do not confuse with

• MRP. MAP is a floor set by the brand on the advertised price. MRP is printed on the pack and is the most a shopper can be charged.
• Selling price. The selling price is what an app or seller charges today. MAP only limits how low that price may be advertised.
• Price parity. Price parity is the same price across apps and pin codes. Prices can all sit above a MAP and still differ.
• Resale price maintenance. An agreement that resellers must sell at the price the supplier sets, unless lower prices are clearly allowed, as the Competition Act, 2002 describes it. MAP only limits the advertised price.