How to Register a Brand on Amazon - A Succinct Guide on Enrollment [Whitepaper]
While there is no cookie-cutter method to build a credible brand and protect it, selling on Amazon offers brand owners a score of robust programs and services, all clustered under the Amazon Brand Registry umbrella.
Amazon Brand Registry has evolved a couple of times since it first launched in 2015. Preserving the key focus on trademark protection, it has expanded its functionality to offer instrumental tools to solidify your brand identity and deliver a gold standard of customer experience.
According to Amazon Brand Protection Report, more than 500,000 brands enrolled worldwide in Brand Registry.
So, why is being a part of this program so critical for a successful Amazon business?
Let’s clarify the basics before moving forward with our simple guide on enrollment.
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DownloadWhat is Amazon Brand Registry?
Amazon’s Brand Registry program is an official Amazon program where approved brand owners (or their registered agents) are on file with Amazon as trademarked brands. Being on file unlocks a preferred tier of Amazon services (protections and benefits) not available to unregistered brands or resellers.
The Amazon Brand Registry membership doesn’t imply any fees. However, some related services, like the Transparency program, are not free.
How do I get a trademark? How long does it take to get one?
US-based brands generally start with filing an application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The whole process takes several months, and you might want to consult a lawyer.
If waiting for so long is not part of your plan, Amazon has recently rolled out an alternative solution to reduce the waiting time. With Amazon IP Accelerator service, you can connect with an Amazon partnered Intellectual Property attorney, file for the trademark, and have your products approved for the Brand Registry with a pending trademark application.
The filing procedure is quite simple, provided you’ve done your due diligence when applying for your officially registered trademark.
A shortcut:
The main things to consider when applying for a Patent or Trademark:
✅ The Right Time. Any patent application should be done as soon as possible. Unlike patents, there is no deadline for trademark applications.
✅ No Likelihood of Confusion. Your trademark should bear no similarity to any of the competitors’ brands.
✅ Provide evidence that your brand is being used. Get ready to demonstrate how your products are being sold under your company’s name.
Applying For the Amazon Brand Registry in 3 Simple Steps
1. Create a Brand Registry Account
Once you have an active Amazon Seller Central or Vendor Central account, you can go to the official Brand Registry Portal to sign up. You will be able to enroll your brand after your Brand registry account verification is completed.
2. Enroll Your Brand
Fill in the field with the details of the products like country of origin, manufacturing details, GTINs, UPCs, or EANs, and click “Submit application”.
Acronym Glossary:
Since swimming in the Amazon acronym soup can be way baffling we’ve mustered up some quick definitions for you:
GTIN – Global Trade Item Number: a unique identifier for trade items developed by GS1.
GS1 – Global Standards 1: an international standards organization, which defines trade items as products or services that are priced, ordered, or invoiced at any point in the supply chain.
EAN – a 13-digit European Article Number.
UPC – a 12-digit Universal Product Code.
What are the eligibility requirements for joining Brand Registry?
- An active registered trademark (text-based mark or image-based mark with words, letters, or numbers) or a pending trademark application number in each country where you want to enroll.
Please note: Each Amazon marketplace has its country-specific eligibility requirements. For example, if you want to sell your product on Amazon.co.uk (The UK), then you have to file for the registered trademark in the United Kingdom. Applying for the registered trademark in European countries implies having a credible lawyer or agency in your corner to help you with VAT calculations.
- Brand’s logo and images for products or packaging depending on the country of the Amazon marketplace you are going to tap in: the United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and/or the United Arab Emirates, or other countries from the list below.
- Brand’s logo and images for products or packaging
- A list of product categories where the brand should be listed
Side note: If your trademark is issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), you can submit the number registered by your country’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) instead.
3. Verification from Amazon
It usually takes from 2 to 10 days for Amazon to validate all the information and activate your brand registry account. Amazon sends a special code to the registered trademark office, which is then forwarded to the online seller. After filling in the code, you’ll have your Brand Registry account activated within 1-2 working days.
How do I know that my brand has been verified?
1. A Unique Identifier appears on your product.
2. You have access to A+ Content.
3. Visit your Case log in to your Amazon Brand Registry account to know the status of your application.
Frequently Asked Questions
You need only register a brand once, regardless of the number of products. If you add new items, add those to the brand-registered account. Of course, if you own multiple brands, you will want to register those separately and keep the correct products with their brands.
By requiring all vendors to register their brands, Amazon knows that the vendors are authorized sellers of their products.
If you are a part of Brand Registry 1.0, you will need to re-enroll as the program has evolved significantly. The original services from 1.0 are still available, but you’ll have none of the new anti-counterfeiting benefits and brand-building opportunities unless you enroll in Brand Registry 2.0.
A Quick Overview of Amazon Brand Registry Benefits
✅ Contribution to Brand Protection
As Amazon combats counterfeit products, it emphasizes protection as Brand Registry’s leading asset. However, don’t expect that Brand Registry will gate your product or brand and solve all problems with hijackers.
Unfortunately, this program can’t kick other sellers off your product listing just because you don’t want them to sell your product. Amazon Brand Registry will only get involved in a case of evidenced copyright and trademark infringement.
Brand Registry is also the gateway to the brand protection programs like Project Zero and Transparency. However, it does not automatically enroll you in those programs, which are separate and may carry fees for certain services.
Jessica Wright, a Seller Labs Managed Services “genius” with more than 15 years of experience on the brands and agency sides of the Amazon business, shared her opinion on how Transparency and Project Zero programs can alleviate your struggles with the counterfeits:
✅ Solidification of Brand Loyalty
While building a brand is not a breeze, nourishing its credibility demands even more effort. Establishing trustful relationships with your customers is as important as having a skillfully crafted storefront.
Whether you bank on an Influencer Marketing strategy or choose an Online Community method to boost brand-loyal purchases, you need a reliable data source feeding you timely information on your customers’ activity. Thus, a robust Brand Analytics tool within the Brand Registry program is a go-to solution providing brand owners with the customers’ search terms and purchase data.
✅ Better Discoverability
When your customers can easily recognize your product among tons of others, that means you’ve balanced the costs of making your brand one of a kind and placing it in front of the customers’ eyes to match an expected Return of Investment (ROI).
Just like Amazon Pay Per Click advertising, Sponsored Brand Ads can help your products show at the top of search results, charging you only once a customer clicks on your ad.
One more tool under the Brand Registry umbrella, Amazon Posts allows Amazon sellers to showcase a brand’s refined content in a manner closely resembling social media posts.
✅ A Significant Conversions Bump
Getting positive reviews is one of the most challenging goals of mastering a new product listing. Once brand-registered, you can join the Amazon Vine program which allows Amazon to give your products to credible buyers and get a review on Amazon in exchange.
By using the Virtual Bundles tool you can combine up to 5 FBA products together and sell them as one product, which is another way to attract potential customers and convert them into active ones. Amazon Brand owners can also access the A+ Content page, which is undeservedly overlooked by Amazon Sellers.
The biggest mistake we see when working with clients is not having A+ Content at all. It’s a great resource for brands to be able to tell their brand story within the Amazon marketplace. There are easy-to-use templates available, so there’s no excuse to not have A+ Content on your listings
The Final Word on Getting Started with Brand Registry
Amazon prioritizes brand owners over resellers as it tackles counterfeiters, hijackers, and other bad actors who diminish the integrity of the marketplace. So if you’re a brand owner with a trademark, there is no reason not to apply for Amazon Brand Registry with its myriad advantages in the form of Amazon Brand protection, marketing, and analytics benefits.
Seller Labs Managed Services experts are convinced that every day which you could be enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry, but you aren’t, is a day that you’re making business easier for your competitors and harder for yourself. This is why we are here, all eager to help you get started right now.