Minimum Advertised Price (MAP)

Consumers need to be aware of how the furniture industry sets it's pricing because sometimes there is such a diverse range of prices for the same product in the market place.

Most people don't realize that home furniture is marked up 200% to 400%. As an example if you purchased a sofa for your home and you paid $1,000 for it; the store could have paid $250 to purchase the same sofa from their manufacturer so that they could sell it to you. Hence a 400% markup on this sofa! Many big box stores advertise that their sale prices are 50% off MSRP which would have priced the example sofa at $500, still a 200% markup. The store would still be doubling their money with this sale.

Most furniture manufacturers set their "MSRP" (manufacturer's suggested retail price), then usually in a secret meeting between them and the home furniture store, they set another price called MAP, which stands for "Minimum Advertised Price". The MAP price is the bottom threshold selling price allowed by the manufacturer. If the store sells the furniture product lower than the MAP they will loose their franchise to sell the product. Most of the online furniture discounters in the Carolinas tend to sell at MAP price. If you call them to talk about prices always ask them to go lower, until you hear them mention that they are already at the MAP price and cannot go lower.

Actually if all furniture products for sale in the market place had a MAP base, I think it would be better for the consumer because you wouldn't have to spend as much time seeking out the real price for a furniture item that you want for your home. It would also make the poor business dealers that offer little or no service stand out and maybe the better store dealers would rise above because of their customer service practices. By selling at the MAP price, a furniture store still makes a decent profit and you get a nice "discount" off some useless MSRP that really means nothing anyway.

Next time you go into a furniture store ask the sales person what the actual MAP price for your furniture choice is; pay attention to how this question is answered. Because there isn't a "book" for us to look up prices it is difficult to know if you will get the real answer so it pays to check with other dealers of the same product and ask the same question.

It would make my life a lot easier if the window covering business had MAP pricing - but, alas the window covering industry doesn't follow the furniture business in this practice. Maybe someday?