Amazon Brand Registry – 2021 Guide

Selling on Amazon is a great way to boost your business. But with great benefits comes enormous competition and a dire need to protect your brand and products. Sellers are concerned about rogue sellers selling knockouts of their products at a cheaper cost, worried about the hijackers on their listing and frustrated because of being unable to make simple changes in the product detail page. The best way to defend products and your brand from such situations is with Amazon Brand Registry.

In this post, we'll provide a detailed overview of brand registry, its benefits, how to enroll and more.

What is Amazon Brand Registry?

Amazon Brand Registry legitimizes your brand and provides access to powerful tools and special advantages over non-brand registered sellers. It also allows branded sellers to regain control over their brand, products and intellectual property on Amazon.

To quote Amazon, "The Amazon Brand Registry is available to sellers who manufacture or sell their own branded products. Manufacturers can enroll their brand in the Amazon Brand Registry and register themselves as the brand owner. The goal of Amazon Brand Registry is to make it easier for sellers to manage their own brands and list their products on Amazon."

Why did Amazon introduce brand registry?

In order to improve customer experience and allow quick searching of products, Amazon allows the same listing to be used by multiple sellers. Fake sellers would take advantage of this and "hijack" the listing by selling a cheaper version at a lower price. Shoppers would buy the product thinking that it's legitimate and when they receive a non-genuine product, they'd leave a negative review. Because the listing with the lowest price gets the Buy Box, the fake sellers would get their share from the sales while brands were left with nothing but a ruined reputation. This not only took a toll on the brand's reputation but also negatively impacted the trusted status of Amazon.

The worst part was that sellers were supposed to provide proof in reporting infringement. And if they were successful in proving the infringement or the hijacking issue, the counterfeit sellers would easily open a new account and start again.

By introducing brand registry, Amazon made an effort to show that its platform is as convenient and trustworthy as possible. And brand registry has, to an extent, helped prevent brand erosion and curb rogue sellers.

Difference between Amazon Brand Registry 1.0 and 2.0

Amazon Brand Registry has been around for several years, but it was refurbished in May 2017. In Brand Registry 1.0, sellers only had to prove the ownership of the domain name for the brand, provide images of the product and its packaging displaying the brand name. However, this version failed to provide protection to the brand owners and reporting any infringements was a painful process.

The new and updated Brand Registry 2.0 were made to fill the gap in the previous version. It was introduced in 2017 and here are the improvements made so far:

• Amazon Brand Registry program has a dedicated user interface. The dashboard makes it much easier to view which brands you've registered

• The interface has several reporting tools to help brand deal with counterfeits

• Brands get access to a dedicated team working on handling and fixing reported infringements. Before the update, this was something brands had to do themselves

• Brands get access to new powerful search tools that help them find out products that are infringing on their copyright

Do I need brand registry?

You should get your brand registered if you find yourself saying:

• How am I ever going to fight the rogue sellers on my listing

• How can I prevent other sellers from making changes to my listing?

• I wish I could make my listing more visual by adding videos and A+ content

• How can I prevent someone from hijacking the listing?

• What if counterfeit sellers will sell knockouts of your product at a cheaper cost

Does this sound like you? If yes, get your brand registered NOW.

Still not convinced? Read the benefits of brand registry below.

Benefits of brand registry

Today, more than 100,000 around the world have registered for the program - it's easy to see why since brand registry offers so many perks. By getting your brand registered, you not only prevent the potential loss of sales because of the bad actors leeching them off your share but also the loss of customer trust. Here are a few more benefits of registering your brand:

• Gives brand owner increased level of control over their trademarks and listing content

• Offers an internal team to help fix incorrect listing contributions

• Offers a dedicated team to escalate and resolve IP infringement claims

• Provides a suite of tool to help monitor, protect and build your brand

• Grants you access to powerful tools such as Enhanced Brand Content and Storefront. Not only these additional branded contents are pleasing to the eyes, but they go a long way in helping you build a brand shoppers trust

• Allows you to increase visibility with Sponsored Brand Ads

• Allows brands to easily update product information without opening a case. This means that you'll have total control of your product's details and its presentation

• Allows you to create Amazon Posts, an opportunity to share your brand content on Amazon free of cost

• Offers the ability to add video to your listing

• Makes your product eligible for Subscribe & Save

• Ability to create virtual bundles and leverage the benefits of cross selling

However, with brand registry, you cannot limit anyone from selling it or blacklist other sellers from selling your products.

Brand Registry FAQs:

Q1: Can private label sellers get their brand registered?

Yes, they can. You just need to have the documents stated above.

Q2: Can someone enroll on my behalf?

Yes definitely. You can give Amazon seller consultants access to your Brand Registry tools and let them handle the rest. In fact, that's the most hassle-free way to get brand registry.

Q3: What is the estimated time Amazon takes for Brand Registry process?

This totally depends on Amazon. If they're busy, it may take longer.

Q4: What is the cost to apply for Brand Registry?

It's free to apply for all sellers.

Q5: Do I need to apply separately for each marketplace?

Yes. Each country has its own registry and so you need to apply separately.

Q6: Once I have brand registry, can anyone else change my product listing?

No, they cannot. Brand Registry gives you complete control of your listing content, images and other elements.

Q7: How can I find out if a product is enrolled?

The information isn't available. The simplest way is to try creating an A+ Content and if the ASIN is eligible, it's registered.

Things you'll need to get your brand registered

• Registered Trademark. It cannot be a pending Trademark. It also has to be a word mark and NOT a stylized, design or illustration mark.

• "Government Registered Principal Trademark Registration" or serial number

• Images of your brand logo

• Images of product and packaging that show your brand name. if your product isn't branded, at least your packaging should be

• A list of categories in which your brand should be listed

• A list of countries where the brand's products are manufactured and distributed

• After collecting all the information, go to Amazon's brand registry page to get started.

How to enroll in Amazon Brand Registry

Unfortunately, the brand registry process isn’t that simple. It’s a long process of gathering the documents, then submitting the documents, contacting support, following up and then again submitting the document. You have two options: you can either go through the process yourself or hire Amazon marketing consultants from eStore Factory. We will apply on your behalf and handle everything from documentation to communication with the support team, so you don’t even have to lift a finger.

Now what?

So, you've registered your brand and safeguarded your listing? That's not all. Here are a few more ways you can make the most of your brand registry:

#1: Create A+ Content

A+ Content is a free self-service tool that allows you to use brand stories, images, and larger than life lifestyle images to drive conversions. EBC/A+ Pages are an excellent opportunity to earn more real estate on your detail page, showcase your product's unique value proposition, and educate your shoppers to reduce returns.

Related posts: Top 10 Amazon Enhanced Brand Content

#2: Set up Amazon Stores

Amazon seller storefront, also called Brand Store, is a mini-me version of your website, where you can showcase your complete product catalog. Your storefront can be used as a landing page for your Sponsored Brand Ads and Amazon campaigns or to differentiate your brands and products from every other seller selling on Amazon.

Related posts: Top 10 Amazon Storefront Design

#3: Create Amazon Posts

Amazon posts offer customers a social media-esque shopping experience. Instead of browsing through random photos and articles, they can browse through various product images that link to their respective detail pages. Posts are at present free, so you can advertise your products without any cost. This is a reason enough to give Amazon Posts a try.

Related posts: Amazon Posts: Make Your Marketing Strategy More Social

#4: Improve visibility with Sponsored Brand Ads

Amazon Sponsored Ads are more prominent than any form of advertising as they stretch across the top of the detail page as a banner. There are three formats of the ad where you can advertise up to three products at once, advertise three pages from your storefront, or show your ad as a video in between search result pages. This prime real estate is available only to sellers having a brand registry.

Related posts: Amazon Sponsored Brand Ad: The Know-All Guide

#5: Add videos to the listing

If a picture is worth 1000 words, a video is worth 100000 words. They are an outstanding way to showcase your product features in an easy to comprehend and fun-to-watch manner. Besides, if your product is innovative or complicated, video is necessary as it does a great job of how to use the product.

Related posts: Tips to optimize your videos

#6: Create virtual bundles

Another feature exclusive to brand registered sellers is virtual bundles. Unlike traditional physical bundles that have to be bundled before sending to Amazon's warehouse, the virtual bundles program allows you to digitally create bundles without packaging them together or making any changes in the FBA inbound inventory. In short, you get all the advantages of creating a bundle without the hassles.

Related posts: Better Together: Everything You Need To Know About Amazon Virtual Product Bundles

#7: Subscribe & Save

If you sell any replenishable items such as toilet paper, kitchen towels, or shampoo, consider enrolling in the Subscribe & Save program. Amazon shoppers are extremely busy and don't have time to refill their supplies every now and then. This program offers the convenience of automatic replenishment and also a discount price. Sellers, on the other hand, get the benefits of repeat sales and increased customer trust.

Final thoughts

From a streamlined process for making detail page changes and access to powerful ad tools to the ability to liven up listing with A+ Content and a potential for increased conversion, the brand registry is truly a no-brainer for almost EVERY seller selling on Amazon. Furthermore, when there are a great number of sellers engaging in malpractices such as unauthorized reselling, the brand registry makes it easier to prevent and protect your brand, offering complete peace of mind.

However, unfortunately, the application process isn’t as simple as it looks. Moreover, your time is too valuable to spend on getting your brand registered. This is where we can help. Contact us and one of our Amazon consultants can get your brand registered without the hassle of submitting the documents, following up, and then again submitting the documents.