5 Ways a Trademark Can Help Grow Amazon Sales

1. 5 Ways a Trademark Can Help Grow Amazon Sales For about 5 years I managed an array of inventory for an eCommerce retailer that were resellers of other brands products, and also sellers of their own branded product. We sold products on our own website, as well as on third party marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.com. During this time, I learned, through trial and error, the best ways to grow sales on these platforms, and much of my time was spent on “figuring out” Amazon. Amazon sales accounted for 50- 70% of my sales by the end of 2018. One of the things I quickly learned while selling on Amazon is that it is not as easy as listing products like we would on our own website. On our website, it was easy, with dedicated website designers we were able to make our website and product pages look exactly how we wanted. But when it came to Amazon, jeez, did they have a lot of rules! Plus, half the time when we tried to make changes to a product page with the intention of improving conversion rate, the changes would not update to the customer-facing side In other words, the product page that the customer sees would not show the changes we were making. I later came to realize that this is because, most of the time, we were not the brand owner of the listing. We were trying to change the images, product title, product description, or bullet points of a product we were RESELLING. Even if we provided high quality, more detailed, and converting content than what was appearing on the customer-facing product page, Amazon would not update the changes we would make because they stated: “When multiple sellers sell the same product through a single detail page, we combine and present the best product data to ensure customers get the best experience.” In other words, Amazon was using an algorithm to decide what the customer sees. This was beyond frustrating, and not to mention time-consuming. To make things even more annoying, this was still the case even if we were the only authorized reseller of the product we were trying to update. Obviously, we were beyond frustrated as we were fighting a battle we couldn’t win as we were trying to change product page information for products that usually had more than 1 seller in their product lifespan.

2. What is Amazon Brand Registry? Once we started selling our own branded product, we learned about Amazon Brand Registry. Amazon describes its Amazon Brand Registry program as

3. something that “helps you protect your intellectual property and create an accurate and trusted experience for customers on Amazon”. While Amazon Brand Registry’s main function is to provide intellectual protection over your brand, it also allows you more control over the information that appears on your brand’s product pages which is an important factor to most sellers. In addition, It offers several other types of benefits to grow sales on Amazon. Below I’ll talk about 5 benefits of Amazon Brand Registry, but first, let’s discuss what is needed to enroll in the program. While Amazon Brand Registry couldn’t solve the problems we were having updating product pages of items that we were reselling, it certainly helped prevent the same issues from occurring on the product pages of the brands we owned. What do I need to sign up for Amazon Brand Registry? To sign up for Amazon Brand Registry, you’ll need the following: 1. An active professional Amazon Seller Central account 2. A trademark in principal status 3. Verification that you are the brand owner of the trademark Learn visiting https://brandservices.amazon.com/. more about what you need to sign up by I’ve seen brands enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry boost sales on Amazon over and over again because of the benefits this program offers its sellers. Let’s talk about 5 ways trademarking your brand and being enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry can help grow your sales on Amazon: 1. Brand Protection 2. Product Page Content Control 3. A+ Content and Stores 4. Video 5. Sponsored Brands Advertising 1. Brand Protection Amazon Brand Registry offers brand protection, but to enroll you’ll need to register your brand’s trademark with Amazon. There is a common misconception that enrolling your brand in Amazon Brand Registry allows you to restrict 3rd party sellers from selling your product on your product listing (think both unauthorized sellers and authorized wholesale partners). This is not the case.

4. Instead, Amazon Brand Registry provides tools and resources to help you identify and remove suspected infringing or inaccurate content and fraudulent parties who are copying your brand by creating fraudulent products or content. 2. Product Page Content Control This benefit is a key incentive for most brand owners who plan to sell on Amazon to file for a trademark and enroll in Amazon Brand Registry. Being able to control what content appears on your product pages allows you to optimize product pages so that you can continuously improve your sales through increased relevant organic traffic and conversion rate. Not to mention, it allows you to control your content to showcase your brand how you want to be seen by the world. To learn more about product page optimization on Amazon, download my Free Guide to Selling on Amazon for Beginners. 3. A+ Content and Stores A+ Content, formerly called Enhanced Brand Content, appears in the Product Description section of a customer-facing product page and it allows you to use added text and images to showcase your brand and educate the customer about your brand and/or product. The A+ Content Manager is only available to Amazon Brand Registered sellers and can be accessed by visiting Advertising>A+ Content within Seller Central. Building a branded store page on Amazon is also available to Brand Registered sellers. The store page gives sellers the control to house and organize products in one easy to shop section. 4. Video Adding Video as an additional product image is my personal favorite benefit of Amazon Brand Registry. Videos, especially product videos, are a powerful tool in improving the conversion rate of any product. In fact, Amazon states that “Shoppers who watch videos are 3.6x more likely to purchase.” Video length is key for success here. Most online shoppers don’t have the patience to watch a long video. A video aimed at increasing conversion rate can be most successful when it’s length is in between 30-45 seconds, and it engages the viewer within the first 9 seconds. 5. Sponsored Brands Advertising Sponsored Brands pay-per-click advertising is available to Brand Registered sellers. It appears as a banner ad, showcasing multiple products under one brand at the top of search results.

5. This type of ad can be used in conjunction with the more commonly used Sponsored Product Ads to increase brand awareness by placing ads at the top of search results for highly relevant, well-performing keywords. While the above are 5 ways a trademark can help grow Amazon sales, these aren’t the only benefits of Amazon Brand Registry. Check out added benefits for brands selling on Amazon for up-to-date benefits and more details. Looking for other ways to grow your Amazon business? Download my free guide for new sellers, which provides starter tips for product optimization. Already optimized? Download my Amazon Product Launch Checklist for additional guidelines to follow to help grow your Amazon business sustainably. Megan Stanczak is an Amazon Strategy and Listing Optimization expert, as well as the owner of Stanczak Retail Consulting. She is dedicated to helping product- based brands achieve steady and sustainable growth as Amazon sellers. For more advice, tools, and resources for selling on Amazon, follow her on Instagram @stanczak.retail.consulting, and subscribe to her e-mail newsletter. Source: https://brandregistrytrademark.com/5-ways-a-trademark-can-help- grow-amazon-sales/