Amazon Brand Registry: Why You Should Register Your Brand on Amazon

With the growing popularity of Amazon and online marketplaces, counterfeits and trademark infringements have become a rising problem in the eCommerce industry. With artists’ work getting stolen to knock-offs appearing left and right, brand protection is necessary now more than ever. Lucky for us, the Amazon Brand Registry offers Amazon brands the tools and support to protect their intellectual property. But what is this program? How do you register your brand on Amazon? 

What is Amazon Brand Registry?

Like all other brand registries and trademarks, the Amazon Brand Registry helps brand owners protect their intellectual property and product content on Amazon. Initially launched as a program to help protect brands against counterfeit products, the Amazon Brand Registry has evolved to include a range of services, such as additional marketing tools like A+ Content and Amazon Storefronts. 

The program was created after Amazon faced several lawsuits from brands claiming not enough was done to prevent counterfeit products from being sold. The Amazon Brand Registry also helps lessen the number of intellectual property infringement issues on the site. It also serves to move some of the burden of policing violations onto brand owners and not Amazon. 

The Amazon Brand Registry has an internal support team that brand owners can contact to report intellectual property infringement, listing issues, policy violations, as well as technical issues regarding intellectual content. 

Who Can Enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry?

Many types of businesses can enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry. This includes but is not limited to distributors with licensed trademarks, manufacturers or private label brand owners, and resellers and individuals with written permission from a manufacturer or brand owner to manage a product’s detail page. All you have to do is meet the Amazon Brand Registry requirements to apply:

• You have an active or pending trademark in that country that appears on your product or packaging
• You can verify that you are the rights owner, through the public contact listed on your trademark registration.
• You have an Amazon account (either Seller Central or Vendor Central)

How to Register Your Brand on Amazon

Brand registration is overall a simple process. However, it will take some time to complete, so make sure you begin early if you want to enjoy the Amazon Brand Registry perks as soon as possible.

Step 1: Brand Trademark Registration 

Before you get your brand registered at Amazon, you must have an active brand trademark. A brand trademark is a distinct detail of your brand which has legal protection as it is a unique identifier for you and your intellectual property. This can either be slogans, your brand logo, or any specific words or phrases unique to your brand. 

You can begin brand trademark registration at your local office, and we recommend starting early as this is the lengthiest part of the Amazon Brand registration process. 

If you do not have the registered trademark and don’t want to do it through your local office, Amazon offers you the option to apply for your brand trademark through the Amazon IP Accelerator. This is through law firms that can help you to register your trademark quickly. 

Step 2: Go to the Amazon Brand Registry website

Now, you can start your Amazon Brand Registry application. You can access the website here. If you haven’t already, you will need to create an Amazon Seller Central or Vendor Central account. Otherwise, you can select “Enroll now” on the website to begin the process. From there, a window will pop up asking you which marketplace you want to enroll your brand. 

The marketplace you select will be subjected to the legal requirements of each country, so make sure you choose correctly. 

After selecting the marketplace, you will move to the next page. Click on enroll a brand, and then you will be redirected to the registration page where you will have to fill out details related to your brand. 

Step 3: Brand Eligibility 

You will be asked to give information related to your brand, such as:

1. Brand name – this must be the same name as you used to register your business trademark in Step 1. 
2. A clear image of the brand’s logo and images for products or packaging

Step 4: Trademark Information 

Here, you will need to share details regarding your trademark. This can either be text-based or image-based marks with words, letters, or numbers. If you have a pending trademark, you need the application number in each country you want to enroll. You will need the below information. 

1. The type of trademark based on what you have registered for your brand. 
2. A Government Official Trademark Registration or Serial Number
3. Trademark office

Step 5: Brand Characteristics

For this section of the application, it will ask you questions about the characteristics of your brand’s products:

1. Product GTIN, EAN, UPC, GS1
   1. Global Trade Item Number –  a specific identifier for trade items developed by GS1
   2. EAN –  a 13-digit European Article Number
   3. UPC – a 12-digit Universal Product Code
   4. GS1 – Global Standards 1: an international organization which defines items as products or services that are ordered, priced, or invoiced at any point in the supply chain
2. A list of your product categories in which your brand should be listed
3. Where you plan on selling your product

You will also have to provide Seller and Vendor information, such as: 

• Your brand’s existing relationship with Amazon
• If your brand manufactures the products or not
• Where your products are manufactured
• Whether your brand license trademarks to others who manufacture products
• Where the brand’s products are distributed

After you fill out all the information correctly, you can select the “Finish” button. 

Step 6: Wait for Verification from Amazon

This usually takes 2 to 10 days as Amazon has to validate all the information you gave them and activate your Amazon Brand Registry account. After, Amazon sends a special code to your registered trademark office, which is then relayed to you. Your Amazon Brand Registry account will be activated within 1-2 working days after filling in the code.

Benefits of Amazon Brand Registry

Down below are some Amazon Brand Registry services and Amazon Brand Registry benefits that your business can use.

Brand Protection

Obviously, the reason the Amazon Brand Registry was created was to protect brands’ intellectual information. When you register your Amazon Brand, you give the program information that they can use to allow you to remove suspected infringing or inaccurate content about your brand. For example, Amazon can remove: 

• Listings that include the terms you trademarked in their titles
• Amazon product listings with your brand name that don’t appear in your full product catalog
• Images containing your logo that do not use your brand name
• Vendors shipping products from countries in which your brand is not available

Amazon also provides you access to a dedicated support team to help you with different issues to protect your brand. This team can help you with issues such as:

• Reporting marketplace violations, such as complaints from customers
• Submitting or retracting intellectual property infringement claims
• Reporting issues with your listing, such as product variation information and incorrect product details
• Escalating previously submitted claims

Transparency

Transparency allows brands to assign a unique alphanumeric serialization code to every unit manufactured. To access this tool, all you have to do is:

1. Register your products in Transparency
2. Assign the secure Transparency code to your products 
3. Your products are scanned by Amazon to ensure only genuine items are shipped out
4. Customers can use your unique code to verify the authenticity of your products anytime, anywhere

This provides brands additional security from counterfeiters, enabling Amazon to detect and stop counterfeiting for every product unit before it reaches your customers. 

A+ Content

A+ Content may not have to do with intellectual property, but it is still a useful tool for any Amazon seller.

A+ Content allows users to easily enhance their listings with images and text. With its templates, you can edit your listings with a variety of layouts, media upload options, and product videos to market your products in an appealing way. This is similar to ZonBase’s Photo Enhancer, except our experienced team of Amazon experts will do all the magic photo-editing for you in order to drive more clicks, increase conversions, and improve brand identity. Overall, editing your photos is useful to help you build a solid customer base and thus leads to an increase in sales. 

Powerful Report Tools

The Amazon Brand Registry gives you a variety of tools to help you find cases of potential infringement, some listed down below:

• Global search – From the same screen, you can browse different Amazon stores to look for content, similar to ZonResearch.
• Image search – Using images, you can search product listings on Amazon that match your items or logos
• Bulk ASIN search – You can quickly check and report potentially infringing content by searching through a list of ASINs or product URLs. In this tool, you can expand image thumbnails for easier identification.

Amazon Project Zero

Amazon Project Zero’s goal is to drive counterfeits to zero using continuous scans of Amazon’s listing to remove suspected fake products. Project Zero operates by using the key data points provided by brands— such as trademarks, logos, etc.— and scans over 5 million daily listing updating attempts to catch counterfeits before they even break the market. 

Like all technology, the scan is not completely accurate, so some fake products may make it past. However, using the Self-Service Counterfeit Removal tool, brands can remove listings they consider to be counterfeit without having to get in touch with Amazon. However, make sure you don’t abuse it— affected brands can contest the claims and get Amazon involved, still. 

Should You Join Amazon Brand Registry?

Honestly, yes. If you’re a person or business that manufactures or sells under your own brand, enrolling in the Amazon Brand Registry scheme is crucial to a successful seller experience. 

Here are three reasons you should enroll in the brand registry for Amazon:

1. Protects Your Brand from Counterfeits

Obviously, this was the main purpose of the program. With Amazon’s immense seller base and highly competitive marketplace, there are many sellers out there who wouldn’t think twice about resorting to deceitful methods like counterfeiting to stay ahead. So, when given the chance to protect your brand with the Amazon Brand Registry program, why wouldn’t you? 

Along with that, joining the Amazon Brand Registry gives the brand exclusive ownership of the Amazon Buy Box. This means that if someone even tries to hijack your product, the authorized seller can contact the support team to have it eliminated. 

2. Have Complete Control of Your Product Listings

A regular Amazon seller often has to follow rigid algorithmic requirements in order to market their products. However, with the Amazon Brand Registry program, the rules are looser and the seller has complete control over the listings. They can change aspects of it to their desire, such as the title, description, and image of the product. 

3. To Better Understand Your Customers

With the Amazon Brand Registry’s advanced analytics, brand owners can access data on customer search and buying behavior. This allows them to identify which products are working best for their target audience, what search terms they are frequently using, and their key demographics. From there, they can use the insights to improve their store experience, products, and marketing tactics. If you pair this with ZonBase’s Keywords tool that determines relevant keywords for your products, your brand will be unstoppable. 

Conclusion

Registering your Amazon Brand comes with many perks to protect your business against counterfeits and trademark infringements. However, while it protects your brand, it doesn’t do as much to help you increase your sales. 

If you are looking to maximize your sales and profits, then we recommend combining the Amazon Brand Registry program with ZonBase. ZonBase is a software suite that comes with 14 tools to make running your Amazon as smooth and simple as possible. With tools such as Profits Tool and Listing Optimizer, it is easier than ever to track your sales and promote your products. 

Visit us at www.zonbase.com and start your free trial today!