Canada Online Marketplace Strategy and New Retailer Agreements
Retail Partner, We thank you for supporting Team Shimano Brands in the past and we hope to continue to earn your business in the future. As a global leader in creating and manufacturing innovative cycling products, we continue to strive to improve our business and brands. This letter is to notify you of a few steps we are taking to better manage our brands moving forward.
After a thorough study of best practices and results of other leading global brands, we have decided to adapt our online marketplace strategy. Our primary goal is to enhance our brand value in an ever-evolving marketplace.
We will roll this new marketing strategy out for the Shimano Footwear, Apparel and Pedal categories. We will also include Pearl Izumi and Lazer helmet brands as part of this strategy.
WHY WE ARE LAUNCHING A NEW ONLINE MARKETPLACE STRATEGY
- The emergence and growth of online marketplaces (Amazon, Jet.com/ eBay etc.) have changed the retail landscape.
- We must be engaged directly with the major online marketplace players in order to be in a position to positively influence how our brands are presented on these marketplaces.
NEW ONLINE MARKETPLACE STRATEGY – ACTIONS WE ARE TAKING
- We are managing our brands on the online marketplace channels by taking the following actions:
- New MAP Policies – will be issued effective January 1, 2019 for Shimano Softgoods, Pearl Izumi and Lazer brands.
- New Retailer Agreement – All retailers selling any product under any Shimano brand in any sales channel must agree to the following (See below to sign):
- Standard Retail Terms – Standard Retail Terms apply to both online sales and brick and mortar store sales; and
- Online Retail Terms – Online Retail Terms apply only to retailers who sell any product under any Shimano brand through an online sales channel.
- We will monitor the evolution of the market and evolve our market strategies to address the business needs and opportunities accordingly.
- To accomplish the above Shimano will take an active role selling on select online marketplaces at MAP (Shimano Footwear, Pearl Izumi and Lazer Products) and at MSRP (Pedals) to enhance our brand presentation and integrity.
- Each of our retailers will identify any directly owned and operated website on which the retailer intends to offer Shimano products, and those websites will be subject to certain brand standards and other requirements intended to ensure the highest level of satisfaction among purchasers of our products. Retailers will not be allowed to offer Shimano products on any third-party website, including online marketplaces.
TIMING AND CATEGORIES AND BRANDS INCLUDED
- The following are the brands included and the timing of the changes:
- January 1, 2019: MAP policies will be issued for Shimano Soft Goods, Pearl Izumi and Lazer Brands
- January 1, 2019: We will actively manage and take over listings for Shimano Pedals, Shimano Footwear and Soft Goods as well as Pearl Izumi and Lazer branded products on the Amazon Marketplace.
WHAT WE ARE ASKING YOU TO DO
- Review and sign the new retailer agreement, including the Standard Retailer Terms, and, if applicable, the Online Retailer Terms, before January 1, 2019
- Direct any questions to Shimano, your rep and or inside sales team.
We realize that this is only a step with a small subset of our products. To enhance and protect our brand value and our retailers in the market, we intend this to be the first step of many more to come.
We appreciate your support and understand that we must work to earn your business every day. We look forward to continuing to support you and your businesses moving forward.
Use link below for any questions and or feedback. We will do our best to respond directly to you within 48 hours.
Link for Feedback and Questions
Thank you,
Tim Hadfield
General Manager
Documents / Links
This window is for signature purposes, you will receive a copy upon completion. Please click here for easier reading of agreement.