Amazon is the largest eCommerce retailer as we speak. With so many users who are accessing Amazon for various kinds of products, the need for Amazon brand protection continues to grow. And that’s because of different illicit activities that impact brands in all industries.
There are more than three million customers who shop on Amazon, and this is a big opportunity for brands to access so many customers. However, there are always doubts about whether brands should sell on Amazon or not.
What will happen if they do sell on Amazon? Are their sales going to be affected?
Most importantly, is it safe for brands to sell on stores like Amazon?
Why do Amazon sellers need Amazon brand protection?
For you to understand how Amazon affects brands of all shapes and sizes today, you need to know the issues that Amazon sellers have when they sell their products on Amazon.
Below are three reasons why Amazon sellers need Amazon brand protection.
1- Someone else can sell your brand on Amazon
Whether your brand is popular or you are selling a very unique niche product, you should expect that someone will sell your brand on Amazon, whether you like it or not. Since Amazon is an open marketplace, it welcomes anyone to sell any products or brands on the site. This means that any reseller can operate under a random display name that gives them anonymity as resellers.
Amazon wouldn’t really care where or how resellers got their items from, as long as they’re not expired, counterfeit, or sold under a wrong product condition.
Amazon straightforwardly tells brands that the presence of unauthorized resellers isn’t an issue. So, it’s up to the brand to control its own agreements and distribution channels. Since Amazon has minimized the restrictions for being a reseller, it has attracted a lot of resellers that offer products to the Amazon customer.
And as brands become more and more popular, they tend to spread across different channels and individual retail outlets, which are potential sources of products that can be diverted or directed onto Amazon. This makes it easier for resellers to sell the products without making themselves identifiable to the brand.
2- You need to actively control distribution from the start
Younger brands need to continue growing, and that means they have to make short-term decisions that will have long-term effects. For example, a brand should fill out all purchase orders from interested resellers, even without adequate attention to where the products will be sold.
Keep in mind that brands will become more popular over time. These brands want their sales growth to continue and don’t put enough restrictions in place over which distributors and retailers will buy products from the brand. So, if the brand has a minimum advertising price policy (MAP policy), then that’s fine for attempting to keep authorized resellers in line.
But what will happen if an unauthorized reseller shows up? Or what if an authorized reseller that sells the products under disguised names shows up? The US trade law gives resellers with first sale doctrine – anyone can buy a product and can keep the right to resell it, as long as the product isn’t altered, regardless of whether or not the product’s trademark owner wants the item to be resold.
This concept is fully influenced by a lot of unauthorized online resellers who allow them to source products and resell them, usually at lower prices than what the brand wants to have as the minimum sales price.
Because of this, every new brand should invest in a trademark attorney who can help develop an online reseller policy, with an anti-diversion language. So, if the brand can adequately policy its retailers and distributors using this legal tool, then the brand has the potential to reduce the risk of product diversion. The brand also has the potential to scare unauthorized resellers away, who may view the brand as another way to make easy money.
3- Your brand’s content on Amazon is important
Whether a reseller is authorized or not, someone will offer your brand for sale on Amazon eventually. And when that happens, that reseller will set up product listings that will include your brand’s product descriptions. Through texts and images, that reseller will determine how your brand promises are written across the Amazon listings of your products. Resellers will rarely represent your brand the way you would, but apparently, Amazon listings can get so highly indexed in Google. This is pretty common for brands’ listings on Amazon to show up higher in both pay-per-click and organic search results than the brand’s own web pages.
With Brand Registry, Amazon’s tools for trademark-registered brands, brands can lock their branded content down in the Amazon catalog. It is highly important to take your time to ensure that your brand is properly represented across all listings in the Amazon catalog. And even if you do not want your brand to be sold on Amazon, keep in mind that someone will eventually sell them on Amazon, and some kind of product listing will be used to represent your products.
To make sure that the content is secured, you will need to diligently put in place every online or offline sales channel.
Amazon Brand Protection: How to Get Your Brand Protected
Whether your brand is sold on Amazon or not, you’ll need Amazon brand protection for the longevity of your business. Make sure that your brand is protected and finally stop unauthorized Amazon sellers and counterfeiters who try and will try to undercut your business.
Protect your brand by working with eEnforce. It has been protecting brands who have built significant traction through eCommerce sales. Right now, it’s the only online protection and enforcement firm that can help maintain the legal license and capabilities to recognize unauthorized Amazon sellers. It can help you locate them so you can take legal action against violators of your brand’s trademark.
Not only is eEnforce among the fastest growing eCommerce protection and enforcement firms in the world, but it’s the only company you’ll find who offers a 30-day free trial. If you want to know more about eEnforce, contact them now, and you’re guaranteed to have Amazon brand protection.
