Registering a brand in the Amazon Brand Registry gives trademark holders the tools necessary to protect and build brands in the leading online marketplace. The version of the Brand Registry introduced in 2017 continues to provide brands access to innovative e-commerce features and services. Learn more about the requirements to register a brand on Amazon and get tried-and-true tips for health and personal care brands.
Amazon Brand Registry Basics
The Brand Registry is an Amazon service with a proven track record of promoting product authenticity. The primary purpose of this registry is to enable trademark holders to exert more control over brand-name products and the way brands appear on Amazon.
A brand that holds trademarks does not have to sell on Amazon to benefit from the Brand Registry. The ability to easily find and report infringements, such as inauthentic or unlicensed products, preserves consumer perceptions of quality and value associated with trademarked products. Registered trademark holders that join the Brand Registry gain access to powerful internal Amazon Standard Identification Number product search and infringement detection tools.
Brands that sell on Amazon also gain access to resources that make product listings and relevant search queries more likely to lead to conversions. The main bonuses associated with the Amazon Brand Registry include access to Amazon A+ Content, which was formerly Enhanced Brand Content. Brands can also use storefronts, sponsorship placement options and detailed analytics in addition to Amazon Seller Central services.
Brand Registration Requirements
The primary requirement for registering a brand is holding one or more government-registered trademarks. This trademark must be active and registered in any country where you want to enroll. Trademark registration can cost anywhere from $225 to over $400 depending on the class of protection you select, and this legal process may take as long as nine months.
If you are registering a new trademark in the United States to participate in the Amazon Brand Registry, it is worthwhile to note that the United States Patent and Trademark Office provides serial numbers for pending trademarks and registration numbers for registered trademarks. A registration number is necessary to join the Brand Registry, which can make for a lengthy delay unless you opt to obtain a trademark through the Amazon Intellectual Property Accelerator program.
The IP Accelerator is an Amazon program that connects business owners with a network of participating legal firms that specialize in IP law. These firms and lawyers are vetted for customer service, experience and expertise and provide services at competitive, pre-negotiated rates. Brand owners that seek trademarks through the IP Accelerator can gain early access to the Brand Registry.
Tips for Registering a Brand
Registering trademarks is the most challenging and protracted part of joining the Amazon Brand Registry. Once you have an active registered trademark number, the process of registering a brand on Amazon is a streamlined workflow. Here are a few documents and materials you are likely to need when joining the Brand Registry:
- Government-issued photo identification
- Business information
- Bank information
- Tax information
When a brand submits a trademark number to the Brand Registry, the registration attempt will be assigned a case number code. Amazon will contact the person associated with a trademark so that he or she can verify his or her identity and input this code into the required field.
Brands can monitor the progress of a registration application under the Brand Registry and manage applications. Applications are listed by brand name or trademark number. The status of each application case may be either approved, rejected, pending submission, withdrawn or removed from the Brand Registry.
The Amazon Brand Registry associates an active, registered trademark with products listed for sale. Products are generally classified through product identification numbers. In addition to internal Amazon ASINs, sellers are also required to provide Global Trade Item Numbers. These are the most common GTINs used on Amazon:
- Universal Product Codes
- International Standard Book Numbers
- European Article Numbers
- Japanese Article Numbers
It may be possible to apply for a GTIN exemption, but most products without valid product identification numbers are suppressed in search and browse results pages until a valid product ID has been provided. Product IDs and ASINs are useful for brands that want to maximize the effectiveness of product listings or search for potential infringements.
Amazon Brand Registry Cost
Trademark fees are the primary costs associated with registering a brand on Amazon. These fees start around $250 and may cost several hundred dollars more based on the class of protection. It may be possible for health and personal care brands to get the best deal and be able to start making money selling products on Amazon faster by going through the IP Accelerator.
Additional costs may be associated with participation in services that are related to the Brand Registry. For instance, Transparency by Amazon is a service that offers serialized product codes that sellers and customers can scan to verify authenticity and learn more about a product. The price of including these codes on products is calculated based on volume.
The Amazon Brand Registry and Project Zero, which allows brands to benefit from the power of the company’s automation and machine learning technology, are both free to join. The background costs of trademark registration and any costs associated with additional product authentication are justified for health and personal care brands that want to exercise greater control over how products are sold on Amazon.
Resources for Registered Brands
Brands that register with Amazon stand to benefit in a wide variety of ways. Access to related programs such as Project Zero and Transparency by Amazon can greatly enhance brand protections, while access to enhanced resources for sellers such as A+ Content, storefronts, sponsored brands and brand analytics go beyond Seller Central services.
A health and personal care brand that joins the Amazon Brand Registry can focus on enhancing brand protections and visibility at the same time. Click Fluency helps brands in this sector grow Amazon sales and lead product niches. Amazon advertising and e-commerce specialists can help any business decide whether joining the Brand Registry or pursuing additional product authentication services is necessary and find ways to optimize listings for maximum visibility and conversions.
Amazon sellers are generally familiar with basic Seller Central services. The Brand Registry offers a much wider range of resources for products with active, registered trademarks sold on this channel. A combination of the Click Fluency ACE Niche Domination Method and the latest services Amazon offers to brands and sellers leads to an average 119% increase in sales over 12 months.
Amazon Brand Registry Features
The basic features of the Brand Registry start with more control over the text, photos and content of product listing pages. Brands can also report infringements in a streamlined manner in order to gain more control over any product pages that include registered trademarks. Enhanced search tools make it possible to bulk global and even image-based ASIN searches or sort results based on average customer ratings.
It is important to note that participating in the Amazon Brand Registry does not gate your brand off to prevent other sellers from selling authentic trademarked products. Registered brands also do not have the power to blacklist or whitelist certain sellers. The submission of infringement claims is also restricted to the registered trademark holder.
Some of the best features of the Brand Registry extend the basic functionality of Amazon Seller Central. The services formerly referred to as Enhanced Brand Content are now under the header of Amazon A+ Content. The ability to add more images or text or infographic-style content to detailed product listings can lead to more professional-looking listings that achieve up to twice the conversion rate of unoptimized listings.
What You Need To Register a Brand
The main requirement to register a brand is an active government-registered trademark in the principal register of each country in which a brand wants to enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry. In the United States, the registered trademark may be a text-based mark consisting of letters, words or numbers and a standard character mark or an image-based trademark that includes letters, words or numbers in a stylized format.
Trademark classifications vary based on the trademark office. The Brand Registry of Amazon currently accepts trademarks registered in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, Japan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
The preliminary serial number used by the USPTO for pending trademarks is not sufficient to register a brand on Amazon. Personal care brands seeking new trademarks that want to gain registered status as soon as possible should consider the Amazon IP Accelerator Program. Once a Brand Registry application has been submitted, application cases can then be monitored and managed.
5 Steps for Brand Registration
Registering a brand on Amazon is relatively simple as long as a trademark has an active registration status. Here are five steps that a health and personal care brand can take to obtain a trademark and join the Amazon Brand Registry.
1. Register a Trademark
A brand can register a trademark independently or participate in the Amazon IP Accelerator program. The average price of a trademark ranges from about $224 up to $400, and the approval process takes up to nine months. The IP Accelerator program allows brands to be pre-approved by Amazon for early access to the Brand Registry.
2. Provide a Registration Number
An active trademark registration number is required to register a brand on Amazon unless a brand participates in the IP Accelerator. Amazon contacts registered trademark holders after a Brand Registry application is submitted.
3. Confirm the Case Number Code
The trademark holder must confirm a case number code for Amazon Brand Registry approval. Failure to confirm this code may indicate that a trademark is not active and lead to the rejection of an application.
4. Verify Brand or Seller Identity
A brand or seller may be required to do additional verification measures. Amazon will match the information provided in an application against government and financial records, and may also perform a live verification of a brand or seller via video chat.
5. Use Amazon Brand Registry
Once an application is approved, a business can use all of the Brand Registry features. If an owner is not sure where to start, Click Fluency offers a wide range of e-commerce and online marketing services for registered brands and sellers on Amazon.
If a brand holds trademarks, the first step of this process is already complete. Obtaining and confirming a case number code takes much less time than processing a new trademark.
Tips To Increase Sales on Amazon
Making use of the suite of tools included in Amazon Seller Central in addition to the Brand Registry can help brands increase sales. Listings should be accurate and include quality content that converts. The Amazon Brand Registry includes access to Amazon A+ Content for enhanced product detail pages and storefronts that showcase all of a brand’s products.
Registered brands also gain the ability to add videos to listings, which is not an option for unregistered sellers. One of the latest innovations available to registered sellers is Amazon Live Creator, which enables brands to engage with customers on the Amazon website and in the Amazon application through interactive livestream videos.
Amazon Brand Registry Benefits
Registering trademarks in the Brand Registry makes it possible for brands to exercise greater control over the authenticity of products sold on Amazon and cut down on infringement. The additional listing design features and functions can ultimately drive up conversions.
Whether a brand already holds one or more government-registered trademarks or you plan to use the Amazon IP Accelerator to gain early access to the Brand Registry during the trademark approval process, there is currently no additional cost to register a brand on Amazon.
Click Fluency specializes in enrolling health and personal care brands in the Amazon Brand Registry and can recommend other ways to enhance seller visibility. The benefits of increased sales and customer satisfaction justify registering trademarks with Amazon and maintaining high standards for product authenticity in this competitive online marketplace.
Sources:
https://brandservices.amazon.com/
https://brandservices.amazon.com/eligibility
https://brandservices.amazon.com/transparency
https://brandservices.amazon.com/projectzero