Why trusting what you’re getting may not be enough – and how to know if you’re missing critical pieces of the puzzle.
Welcome to another edition of The Brand Data Revolution. This week, we want to share a story we hear all too often in an attempt to help brands realize that the most damaging data for your brand may be the data you’re not even seeing.
In a recent call with the Chief Revenue Officer of a well-known pet food brand, one line stood out to our team:
“We feel like we’ve got good visibility…but maybe we’re not seeing all of it.”
That hesitation – that pause right before “but” – captures a feeling we hear all too often. Many brands assume their MAP monitoring is comprehensive because it looks busy: dashboards are populated, alerts are coming through, and reports are being generated. This is understandable, and nobody can be blamed for thinking that more listings equate to the full picture.
But that doesn’t mean the data is working. It just means the data is…there.
The hard truth? Most brands don’t know what they’re missing – until they spend time with “better” data. But what exactly does better mean?
Why “Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough
In this case, the brand had invested months cleaning up their catalog, identifying verified sellers, and partnering with a monitoring provider they’d used for years. And while that effort was real and meaningful, it still left many blind spots.
Blind spots like:
- Sellers that appear differently across marketplaces (but are the same party)
- Marketplace listings that don’t show up in search results but still violate MAP
- Inconsistent screenshots or mismatched timestamps that make violations hard to verify
- Incomplete SKU coverage – especially for new products or seasonal launches
In short, “feeling covered” is not the same as being covered.
How to Evaluate Whether Your MAP Data Is Working for You
Many brands that we speak to get the sense that something is off and that they may not be seeing the full picture, but they don’t know where to start.
If you’re serious about enforcement, it’s not enough to rely on what your provider tells you. You need to test it. Pressure it. Interrogate it. You are paying for data, and you’re only doing your due diligence when you’re looking to protect your investment.
Here are practical steps your team can take every quarter to audit the quality of your MAP monitoring data:
🔍 Look for consistency in seller names. If the same seller appears under different aliases across marketplaces, your provider should be normalizing that behavior so that you can track repeat offenders, even if they’re masking their identity.
📸 Audit screenshots. Do your violation screenshots include the product, price, seller, and date/time of capture? Are the images legible, and do they match the reported violation details? If not, retailers may challenge your claims and question your ability to catch them in the act or prevent their competition from instigating a race to the bottom.
📊 Check SKU and site coverage. Review how many products are actually being monitored across Amazon, Walmart, Chewy, Best Buy, and other key channels. If a third of your SKUs are missing consistently or key sites have gaps, that’s a sign you’re not seeing the full picture.
⏱️ Measure how quickly violations appear. If it takes days or weeks to detect new violations, or if screenshots never actually appear (some providers say to check back for screenshots, but they never actually materialize) your brand is losing revenue – and your partners are losing trust. Good MAP data should help you respond before pricing chaos spreads.
🧪 Run independent audits every 3 months. If you don’t have access to AI-powered validation and verification like Pervasive Mind, you should still have an objective look at the data periodically. Have your internal team or a third-party service compare your provider’s results to what they can find manually. While it will require some days or weeks to verify, this scrutiny helps reveal any areas where listings are missed, sellers are misidentified, or data is delayed.
🤝 Ask hard questions. Remember, you are the customer, and the customer is always right. Asking your provider questions that matter should be welcomed, and they should be able to answer questions like:
- “What’s your up-time across major retailers?”
- “How do you adapt when retailers change their site structure or deploy blockers?”
- “What are the most common forms of blocking you see today?”
- “Can we track violations by seller over time – regardless of marketplace?”
- “How much of our catalog is actually being monitored today?”
- “What happens when we see a dip in listings/coverage? Will you notify us proactively?”
If the answers are vague, go unanswered, or your contacts are defensive, that should serve as a red flag.
What We’ve Seen in the Market
Some MAP providers rely heavily on scraping search results, which can vary drastically depending on ad placements, search history, location, IP, and even the time of day.
Others struggle when retailers like Amazon or Walmart update their site or introduce new anti-scraping measures, leaving brands with incomplete or delayed data for days, weeks, or even months.
At Pervasive Mind, we approach it differently. Our AI-supported infrastructure enables us to:
- Maintain coverage when others get blocked
- Normalize seller behavior across marketplaces to identify patterns
- Deliver screenshots with every violation including matching dates, prices, and sellers
- Help teams understand what they’re seeing – and openly and honestly discuss what they might be missing
We’ve built our solution to withstand the complexity of modern e-commerce, not just to check the box on monitoring.
Final Thought: Don’t Wait for the Gaps to Show Up
The worst time to find out your MAP data is incomplete is after you’ve lost control of your pricing…after retailers start asking why violators get a pass. Or…after your sales team has to explain the inconsistency and starts to sour the relationships they’ve worked so hard to build.
If your team hasn’t asked, “What are we missing?” in a while, this is your reminder. And if you don’t like the answers you’re getting, we’re here to help.
📩 Let’s talk about what better data looks like and what it means for your business.
