For brands sold at retail

MAP monitoring and shelf price tracking across every retailer

Q: Is a MAP policy legal?

In the United States, since the Supreme Court's Leegin decision in 2007, a minimum advertised price policy is not illegal in itself and is judged by its design and effect. In Canada, section 76 of the Competition Act treats minimum advertised prices as price maintenance, a reviewable practice that is only prohibited when it has an adverse effect on competition; the Competition Bureau's 2014 guidelines describe its approach. Lightfeed gives you the evidence; the policy is between you and your counsel.

Your products and your competitors' on the digital shelf of every retailer that carries them: shelf price against MAP, promotions, availability and who is selling. Read daily, matched by GTIN, with the listing as evidence.

Book a 30-minute demo See pricing

Today's shelf, not last month's panel Your line and the competition, size-normalized Evidence your partner team can forward

In plain terms

What MAP monitoring software does, and what brand price monitoring should add

MAP monitoring software watches the advertised price of your products at every retailer and marketplace seller and flags any listing below your minimum advertised price. Most MAP compliance software stops there: your SKUs, the retailer's .com price, a screenshot and a letter.

Brand price monitoring on the digital shelf needs more. Price erosion starts with a competitor's promotion, not yours; a regional MAP break is invisible in a national price; and a bundle or a refill is not a violation. Lightfeed reads your line and the competitor brands you name, store by store where the retailer publishes it, and rejects false matches before they reach the compliance view.

The problem

What a syndicated panel does not show

Circana and NielsenIQ tell you what sold, by market, weeks later. The questions a brand's pricing and sales teams get on Monday are about this morning's shelf.

MAP breaks over a weekend and is gone by the report

A flash sale, a stacked coupon, a marketplace seller with a new storefront. By the time a monthly report shows the price erosion, your other retailers have already asked why they should hold the line.

Every retailer breaks it differently

In-cart pricing at one, a member price at another, a third-party seller on a marketplace. You need the listing itself, retailer by retailer and store by store, not an average.

Inflation tracking needs the size, not just the price

When a competitor moves from 500 ml to 450 ml at the same price, the shelf tag did not change but the price did. Tracking price per unit over time, across retailers, is the only honest trend.

How it works

From your GTIN list to a MAP compliance view

Send GTINs, MAP and pack sizes

Your product list with UPC or EAN, MAP or MSRP, and the size. Name the competitor brands and categories you want read alongside.

We find every listing

Your SKUs by identifier at each retailer and marketplace; competitor brands by category. Department stores, beauty, pharmacy, mass, grocery and marketplaces in Canada and the United States.

Daily reads, store by store

Shelf price, promotion and its end date, member price where the retailer shows one, stock, and the seller on marketplaces. Each read keeps the listing as evidence.

Compliance and trend, ready to forward

Violations per retailer and seller with the tolerance you set. Price per unit over time for your line and the competition. Who carries what, and where it is out of stock.

From a demo run

One 42-SKU beauty catalog, 12 US stores, one morning

A demo on public catalogs: prestige and mass skincare read at Target, CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Amazon, Sephora, Ulta and Macy's.

4,103

listings captured from 42 tracked SKUs

The whole category across 12 stores, 283 matched like for like. Prestige brands were absent from the mass retailers and vice versa, which is the distribution picture a brand manager wants.

Target ×3 · CVS ×3 · Walmart · Walgreens · Amazon · Sephora · Ulta · Macy's

71%

of SKUs priced differently by store

Three Target stores, three prices for the same 1.7 oz moisturizer. A MAP check against the national .com price would have passed all three.

$22.49 Chelsea · $19.99 Streeterville · $25.49 Westwood

519

match decisions rejected, each with its reason

“Listing B is a promotional bundle that includes a serum sample alongside the 1.7 oz cream.” Bundles and refills never reach a MAP report as false violations.

Identifiers first · model verification second · a human only when unsure

What you get

The views a brand's pricing and sales teams open

View	What it answers
MAP compliance	Every listing below MAP by retailer and seller, with the tolerance you set, the gap, first seen and duration, and the listing as evidence. A marketplace-sellers-only view. Export as a sheet your partner team can send as is.
Price per unit over time	Shelf price normalized by size for your line and the competitor brands you name, by retailer, so inflation and shrinkflation show up as one trend.
Promotions	Start, end and depth of every promotion on your products and the competition, by retailer, next to the MAP line.
Distribution and availability	Who carries you, who carries the competition, out of stock by retailer and store, new listings since the last run.
Store level where it exists	Department stores, beauty, pharmacy and mass retailers that price by store are read store by store, so regional MAP breaks and zone pricing are visible.
Delivery	The web app, CSV exports, a JSON API for your BI tool, and an MCP server for Claude or your own agents. Enterprise adds Snowflake, BigQuery and Power BI delivery.

Compare

MAP monitoring software compared: panels, enforcement suites and Lightfeed

Syndicated panels such as Circana and NielsenIQ, MAP enforcement suites such as TrackStreet, Wayvia (PriceSpider) and Wiser, and Lightfeed answer different questions. Many brands run a panel and Lightfeed together.

	Syndicated panels	MAP enforcement suites	Lightfeed
What it measures	Sales and share by market, weeks later	Advertised price on your SKUs	Today's shelf: price, MAP status, promo, stock, seller
Competitor brands	Yes, as sales	Usually your SKUs only	Whole categories, size-normalized, next to yours
Store-level prices	No	Mostly .com prices	Every store the retailer publishes
Evidence	Aggregated	Screenshots	The listing, price, store and timestamp on every read
Enforcement letters	No	Yes, often as a managed service	No. You keep the letters; we give you the evidence and the export
Price	Six figures a year	Custom, often $1,000+ a month before enforcement	$699 a month for 100,000 products

FAQ

Questions brand teams ask

Is a MAP policy legal?

In the United States, since the Supreme Court's Leegin decision in 2007, a minimum advertised price policy is not illegal in itself and is judged by its design and effect. In Canada, section 76 of the Competition Act treats minimum advertised prices as price maintenance, a reviewable practice that is only prohibited when it has an adverse effect on competition; the Competition Bureau's 2014 guidelines describe its approach. Lightfeed gives you the evidence; the policy is between you and your counsel.

Does Lightfeed enforce MAP or send notices to retailers?

No. Lightfeed finds the violations and documents them: retailer or seller, price, gap to MAP, first seen, how long it lasted, and the listing as evidence, exportable as a sheet your partner team can send as is. Notices, cease-and-desist letters and supply decisions stay with your team and your counsel.

Can you track competitor brands as well as ours?

Yes. Your own SKUs are matched by GTIN; competitor brands are read as whole categories at each retailer, so you see their shelf price, promotions and distribution next to yours, size-normalized.

Do you read in-store prices or only the retailer's website?

Wherever the retailer publishes prices per store, Lightfeed reads each store. For department stores, beauty, pharmacy and mass retailers in Canada and the United States that is most of them; marketplaces are read as one price with the seller.

How is this different from Circana or NielsenIQ?

Panels report what sold, by market, weeks later; they are the right source for share and volume. Lightfeed reports what is on the digital shelf today at each retailer and store: price, MAP status, promotion, stock and seller. Brands use both; Lightfeed replaces the manual shelf checks and the MAP spreadsheet, not the panel.

What about third-party sellers on Amazon?

Lightfeed reads the Featured Offer seller and price on each ASIN and flags marketplace sellers below MAP. See brands on Amazon for unauthorized seller monitoring in detail.

See every listing of your brand before Monday

Send us 50 GTINs, your MAP and three retailers. We find the listings, check them against MAP, and walk you through the result on a 30-minute call. No contract, no setup fee.

Book a 30-minute demo

Prefer email? support@lightfeed.ai