How to Protect Your Brand on Amazon [Webinar Recap]

Amazon Selling Options

On Amazon, brands can leverage various selling models which have different associated benefits and challenges. A first-party seller is a brand manufacturer that sells inventory directly to Amazon, who then sells it to the end user. For shoppers, these items appear on Amazon with the label “Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.” Brands interact with Amazon’s vendor management team and the relationship is managed through a portal known as Vendor Central.

With Vendor Central, Amazon has a consistent PO structure that they utilize for replenishment, but you have less catalog control. Amazon owns the product they purchase from you and decides what content the product detail pages are populated with. They also may implement price matching to all channels.

For example, if a product you sell to Amazon has a MAP (minimum advertised price) of $25 and you want Amazon to sell it at that price, you need to know that if Walmart or another e-commerce marketplace has the same item for $20, Amazon may lower their price and break MAP to stay competitive.

A third-party seller uses Amazon as a marketplace to sell directly to consumers. These items appear with the labels “Fulfilled by Amazon” or “Ships from and sold by (retailer name).” The interface that these sellers use is called Seller Central.

Brands with their own third-party stores, as well as authorized resellers, acquire their inventory by purchasing it directly from the manufacturer, buying it from other retailers or small businesses and reselling it, or buying it off the gray market and selling stolen or counterfeit goods. Retail Bloom, our partner on this webinar, provides services regarding identifying unknown sellers and inauthentic products to brands who do not have the bandwidth to take on these time-consuming processes themselves.

With Seller Central, you are responsible for listing products, as well as item fulfillment and customer service. You have complete control of your product offering and pricing and do not operate with purchase orders to Amazon. However, you will need a dedicated team to manage the process — monitoring various factors that influence success such as pricing, inventory, demand, reputation, and more.

The Importance of the Buy Box

Another reason to take MAP monitoring seriously is because it impacts the Buy Box. More and more, Amazon is monitoring other sites to determine the Buy Box price and price match to other marketplaces. For example, let’s say the retail price for a product that you are selling is $24.99, but the average Buy Box price is $17. This means that if you aren’t priced at $17, you are less likely to win the Buy Box.

When you are not in the Buy Box, Amazon will show a clause that says “Available from these sellers” which will prompt the shopper to click on that screen, go to the list of third-party sellers, and add the product to their cart that way. Consumers may view this as an uncredible product listing and they may go to a competitor’s listing or not convert at all. To mitigate this risk, you can utilize Feedvisor’s price optimization and intelligence platform to help you maintain or increase your Buy Box share without compromising profit margins.

Not only does the Buy Box price ensure that you are remaining competitive with changes in the marketplace, but it also impacts your overall sales and advertising strategies. With a significant majority of Amazon sales funneling through the Buy Box, maintaining control over the Buy Box price is a driving factor in increasing your sales. To note, this will be relevant for brands with their own 3P storefronts and for authorized resellers. In addition to organic sales, your Buy Box eligibility directly impacts the success of your advertising campaigns. To see placement of your Sponsored Products, you need to be in the Buy Box.

Final Thoughts

The key takeaway from the brand protection webinar is that establishing a credible brand reputation and presence on Amazon takes time. You need tools and hands-on expertise to help you manage brand protection, but it is an ongoing process. Challenges can arise, such as leaks in supply chain or distribution, that can cause damage to existing policies, terms, or seller relationships within your network and it is up to you to proactively take the steps to identify issues early and take action against noncompliant sellers and resellers.