Bringing logic to Amazon

In simple terms, when everyone tries to do something, actually no one does it. If we apply this logic to Amazon, it makes total sense. You and you only should control your brand on the platform.

Why? Forever changing images, product descriptions appearing incorrectly, duplicate listings of your products. Sound like a familiar story?

This is probably the number one challenge that arises when I speak to brands whose products are sold on Amazon: ensuring the consistency of their brand message on the platform.

Often, a brand’s presence on Amazon is dominated by what their distributors upload to the platform, and distributors don’t always have your brand’s best interests at heart.

From a consumer perspective, they don’t know or really care who they’re buying from. They’re buying your brand, whether it’s from you directly, or from a third party. So if your brand representation on Amazon is messy and doesn’t tell your best brand story, you’re not helping to guide that customer to your brand.

These are the most common issues I see:

1. Duplicated listings

Often there are multiple ASINs listed, that are in fact the same product. Not only will each of these listings tell a different story to the customer, but the brand is losing the benefit of the combined sales on a single listing and the resulting impact on their sales rank. If your sales of Product A are split between two or three listings, the sales of each listing will be lower than the sum of the combined. That means your product will be appearing lower in search results.

2. Products listed under multiple “brand names”

Often distributors will list your product under a different brand name. This is confusing to the customer and also creates an element of distrust “is this the correct brand, or is this a counterfeit product?” It also means that the discovery of your products on Amazon is a lot more challenging for the customer – when they click on the incorrect brand name, they won’t be able to see your full catalogue. Or even worse, you’ll have products that aren’t your brand appearing next to yours!

3. Bundles, bundles, bundles

Distributors will often bundle your product: maybe a 3-pack for a discounted price, or a mix-tape of complementary products bundled together. Don’t get me wrong, it’s often a good idea to create bundles of your product, but to do it well, you need to have consistency across similar products. If a customer can buy a 3-pack, 6-pack and 12-pack of Product A, but only a 2-pack or 24-pack of Product B it’s going to negatively impact their experience.

4. Inconsistent, Incorrect & Out of Date Content

To ensure your brand is being showcased on the platform effectively, you need to be sure that you have consistency across your listings. A great listing inspires consumer confidence, educates & tells the brand story effectively and guides the customer to purchase. That means your brand should have the same look & feel in your listing images, titles, bullet points, and within the A+ Content. What’s more, incorrect information also leads to negative reviews which can easily be avoided.

5. No Brand Store

If a brand isn’t taking control of their presence on Amazon, customers will be guided to Amazon’s pre-made storefront, based on the products listed under the brand name.

You wouldn’t allow a third party to create and manage your website, would you? So why let Amazon manage your brand store?

Amazon brand stores are a brilliant way to educate the customer and tell your brand story, especially when customers are in the awareness & consideration phase of their journey to purchase. If you have the opportunity to show off what makes your brand special, you should leverage that!

It’s imperative that brands take control of their brand presence on Amazon. A brand that realised this is Moroccanoil.

Moroccanoil relaunched their Amazon store in March 2019, after years of distributors representing the brand on their behalf. They had encountered all of the above issues and realised that their brand wasn’t being represented properly on the platform and therefore didn’t inspire their customer’s trust. By taking control of how their brand is represented, Moroccanoil were able to ensure their consumers have a great shopping experience buying genuine Moroccanoil products they know and love.

They’ve even included a message to customers on their brand store to this effect:

This brand is a great example of realising taking control of your brand on the platform is key in order to build consumer trust and increase sales.

So why don’t you take a look – search for your brand name on Amazon. What do you find? Are you being represented properly on Amazon?

If you have any questions about ensuring brand consistency on Amazon, get in touch.