Selling on Amazon is an excellent way to expand your market. However, with significant advantages come tremendous competition and an urgent need to protect the brand and goods. Sellers are concerned about rogue sellers selling knockoffs of their goods at a lower price, as well as hijackers on their listings, and are irritated by their inability to make easy adjustments to the product description page. Amazon Brand Registry is the perfect way to protect the goods and brand from certain circumstances.
Amazon Brand Registry validates your brand, gives you access to powerful resources, and gives you a competitive edge over non-brand registered sellers. It also enables branded sellers to reclaim ownership of their Amazon name, products, and intellectual property.
“The Amazon Brand Registry is open to vendors who make or sell their own branded products,” according to Amazon. Manufacturers may enroll their brand in the Amazon Brand Registry and claim ownership of the brand. Amazon Brand Registry's mission is to make it simpler for sellers to handle their own brands and list their goods on Amazon.”
Requirements
According to Amazon:
“To be qualified for Amazon Brand Registry, your brand should have an active registered trademark in each country where you choose to enroll or have a pending trademark application filed through Amazon IP Accelerator." The trademark for your brand must be in the form of a text-based mark (word mark) or an image-based mark with images, letters, or numbers (design mark).”
Cost
The process of registering your brand is completely free.
However, acquiring a copyright or trademark in the first place does not come cheap. These fees usually vary from $225 to $400, based on where you register and the type of cover you want. You will also have to consider legal fees.
Amazon allows many vendors to use the same listing in order to maximize customer service and allow fast product searches. Fake sellers will take advantage of this and "hijack" the listing by offering a lower-priced version. Customers would purchase the product believing it was authentic, and if they received a counterfeit product, they would leave a negative review. Since the listing with the lowest price receives the Buy Box, the fake sellers would profit from the sales while the brands would be left with nothing but a destroyed reputation.
This not only harmed the brand's popularity but also harmed Amazon's trustworthiness. Worst of all, sellers were required to include evidence of infringement when disclosing it. If they successfully demonstrated the infringement or hijacking, the counterfeit sellers would open a new account and begin again.
Amazon attempted to demonstrate that its platform is as simple and trustworthy as implementing a brand registry. And, to some degree, brand registry has aided in the prevention of brand degradation and the eradication of rogue sellers.
Before we get into the meat of this post, here's a brief summary of what the Amazon Brand Registry can and cannot do for you.
The Brand Registry is different from Seller Central or Vendor Central, but you will need an account and meet a specific set of criteria to sign up for the Brand Registry. Here's what you need to know:
To be allowed for Amazon Brand Registry, the brand must have an active registered trademark in each country where you wish to participate. You must have a trademark licensed with a legitimate government office.
In the United States, the trademark application process will take a year or more. But don't worry; once you've applied, been assigned a number, and are in the pending status, you will apply for and be accepted for the Brand Registry. After the Brand Registry team has reviewed your situation, you will be accepted and have access to all of the resources available.
The trademark method in other countries can be much faster. The UK trademark application process is much faster, with most applications being checked within a month. Keep in mind that, now that Brexit has occurred, you will need to register trademarks in both the UK and the EU if you want to sell in Europe.
You can also opt to use Amazon's IP Accelerator software. This service enables you to apply for a trademark and enter the Brand Registry, all of which are handled by Amazon. Before you can sign up for the Brand Registry, you must first have a Vendor Central account OR a Professional selling account in Seller Central. This is due to the fact that the Brand Registry is only available to brand owners or producers. You would need to update if you signed up for Seller Central with an Individual plan. A Skilled sale account costs $39.99 in the United States and £25 in the United Kingdom.
The brand owner must submit applications for the Brand Registry. You must use the same name and information as your registered trademark when creating a Brand Registry account. Do not file under a different or similar name. We also suggest using the same email address and information you used with your Seller Central or Vendor Central account. This ensures that the accounts are connected and that you have access to the Brand Registry benefits.
For instance, if your trademark is “Original Cool Striped Shirts,” use that exact phrase in the Brand Registry. Please do not register with the names "Original Striped Shirts," "Cool Shirt Co.," "Original Cool T-Shirts," or anything else.
If registered, you can view the case log and check the status of your account by logging into the Brand Registry. You may be required to confirm your identity, provide additional documentation, or participate in a brief video call with an Amazon representative. Amazon has recently increased the number of measures taken to ensure that legitimate businesses register and are adequately represented. Allow for this time in the phase because it can take many weeks depending on the category and individual circumstances (for instance, if someone else has already registered your brand, if your trademark is not in process, etc.).
A trademark application usually takes 8 to 12 months to be accepted. If, on the other hand, you want to file your application with one of Amazon's IP law firms, you might get your brand registered with a pending trademark in as little as a few weeks.
There are several advantages to registering the brand with Amazon, including:
Secure Your Brand: Amazon's support team will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to assist you with problems such as product review manipulation, filing IP violation charges, and reporting any technical issues. Furthermore, as part of the Transparency program, Amazon will provide you with unique barcodes to add to your goods to ensure that only genuine units are sent to your customers.
Access A+ Content: Perhaps the program's best feature, A+ Content (formerly Enhanced Brand Content), enables you to add visually appealing text and photos to your product description. Finally, it gives your listing a much more professional appearance. It is not unusual for sellers to say that after implementing A+ Material, their conversion rate doubles!
Product Video: Once your listing has been accepted, you will be able to upload a video that will appear at the end of the product picture reel. This is an excellent way to display your product and tell your brand's story while also increasing your conversion rate.
They will be guided to your store if they click on your logo. When they click on a product, they will be taken to the product's page. These work in the same way as Amazon PPC does (i.e. you will only pay once a customer clicks on your ad).
Understand Your Customers: Because data is king, you must learn as much as you can about your customers to optimize sales. brand analytics gathers consumer search and purchase data to assist you in improving your business operations. This offers a wealth of information, such as the search words your consumers use to find your product (which you can then incorporate into a PPC campaign), as well as market basket analysis.
Amazon Vine: Getting feedback is one of the most challenging aspects of growing a new listing. Fortunately, once your brand has been licensed, you will have access to Amazon's Vine service, allowing Amazon to offer your goods to authorized customers in return for a review. However, be careful because these can be truthful reviews. To ensure that consumers have a good experience with your goods, use the Early Reviewer program first.
Virtual Bundles: This feature allows you to group several ASINs to form a package. This is advantageous to all sellers because your items will appear on their page and vice versa. So, if you find that your clients often purchase goods in addition to yours, this might be a valuable way to maximize conversions.
Brand Protection: The original purpose of the Brand Registry was to assist consumers in avoiding counterfeit goods and having a positive Amazon experience. One of the primary advantages of registering your brand is that you can more easily take ownership of your product's detail pages, which is particularly useful if you have several distributors and want to maintain a consistent, reliable experience.
You can reach out to a dedicated team of Amazon agents through the Brand Registry. The self-reporting tool enables you to report breaches, infringements, and incorrect details, as well as react to issues more accurately and effectively, such as if a customer returns a product because it is "not as advertised."
Amazon can be daunting even to the largest and most influential corporations. It can be challenging to maintain ownership of your brand on the website, but things have gotten a lot easier since the introduction of the Amazon Brand Registry in 2017.
Amazon Brand Registry is a service that allows brand owners to have more control of their products and trademarks on Amazon. It is the most straightforward and most practical method of safeguarding intellectual property on the web. However, those who sign up gain access to resources that aid in everything from the avoidance of counterfeit sales to the marketing of their brand. It should be a vital component of every brand's Amazon plan.
From the simplified process for making information page changes and access to powerful ad resources to the opportunity to liven up listings with A+ Content and the potential for improved conversion, the brand registry is truly a no-brainer for almost Any Amazon seller. Besides that, when many sellers engage in corrupt practices such as illegal reselling, a brand registry makes it easier to avoid and protect the brand, providing complete peace of mind.
Next article: Amazon Seller Account- How You Can open It and Common FAQs
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