Drive has all eyes on the web

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. - Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare has ramped up its minimum advertised pricing (MAP) program by contracting with Oris Intelligence.

Columbus, Ohio-based Oris offers a cloud-based platform that not only patrols and enforces MAP policies everywhere products are sold online, but also searches for unknown sellers.

“We wanted the coverage they provide—they scan the entire Internet for your MAP products,” said Ben Kwapisz, program administrator for Drive's MAP policy. “We wanted to be able to look everywhere.”

Drive first launched its MAP program back in 2012, in response to a growing number of providers looking to diversify their businesses online.

Since then, the online marketplace has become increasingly complex to navigate for both manufacturers and providers, with large national retailers often competing aggressively to offer the lowest prices.

“When we have a MAP policy and we enforce it like we do, we're supporting all of our customers to be able to fight that price war,” said Stephanie Treant, manager of the e-Commerce Division at Drive.

A well-enforced MAP policy not only preserves a provider's ability to compete with large national retailers, but also ensures that the provider maintains a certain profit margin, Kwapisz said.

“We want to make sure pricing doesn't get so eroded, providers are only making a very small percentage,” he said.

Treant declined to say how many products are protected under Drive's MAP policy, but she says the company's contract with Oris, a larger software company that can support an expanded and more robust program, is a good example of how it's always looking to provide more support to providers that are selling its products online.

“We're always evaluating our product line and how it fits into our MAP program,” she said.

With Oris, Drive has been able to stop an increasing number of violations of its MAP program, Kwapisz says.

“Absolutely,” he said when asked. “It has been able to find the exact sites, pinpoint them and get them corrected. It's one of the things they do so well.”