Amazon has taken the world by storm and I mean that in every sense of the word. Never had a single corporation reached almost every single consumer in the world. By last year’s estimate in the time of this writing, Amazon has accounted for almost half of all online transactions. To put that into perspective, all online transactions should amount to a few trillion in that year alone. It really is no wonder how their CEO has become the richest man in the world, and with no sign of Amazon slowing down, he might just be for a while.
There are two types of online retail, one is third party selling and the other is similar to an online brick and mortar store. The latter is more common where the seller owns the rights to the product and is in charge of maintaining the website and the channels necessary to connect to their consumers. They may even be in charge of producing their product. Think of it like an online Walmart.
On the other hand, they may not necessarily own the product they are selling thus they rely on third-party sellers. They simply provide the platform and manage the transactions on the backend for small fees and advertising. This employs the power of third party sellers to grow and reach even more customers. An example of this would be eBay which is also one of the firsts of its kind that truly became successful. Amazon employs both models where they have their own products but is also open to letting third-party sellers use their platform to further their growth and expansion.
The Amazon Platform and Amazon Brand Protection
Amazon is not shy in admitting that they owe a lot of their success from their third-party sellers. In fact, they have recruited no less than 2 million sellers by the time of this writing. This healthy number allows for competition within the platform itself thus allowing for capitalism to work its magic. Using the third party sellers, the reach of Amazon becomes even larger with more sellers able to fulfill their customers’ demand. This bid well to Amazon’s aim to ensure that they can sell their products at the lowest possible price points and that they can deliver their products faster than anyone else.
The figure attributed to the sales resulting from Amazon’s third party sellers went beyond the hundred billion mark last year. The platform did indeed benefit both the sellers and Amazon itself. Thus, it is no surprise that the Amazon platform has become a hot topic for sellers looking to make a splash on the online market.
With the Amazon marketplace becoming its own economy, the sellers are faced with unique problems. This of course includes the topic of our discussion which is to protect the brand. This is not a simple endeavor and most who try to work their way often get lost in the mud trampled upon by those who seek to take advantage of other people’s hard work. In this article we are going to talk about your brand and how you are going to protect it from the number one problem plaguing online sellers right now – the counterfeiters.
With just how much Amazon has grown in terms of transactions per day, it is not at all surprising that being a third party seller may feel like being thrown into a cross-fire. The free-for-all nature of online selling and the sheer size of it means that you have to keep your wits with you when selling your products. It is in no way going to be easy especially if your product particularly does well.
What Amazon Brand Protection Does For You
As an online reseller, you have the responsibility of protecting your brand as much as the brand of your suppliers. Suppliers are often seen as the ones running the show behind the scenes but really, all the action happens when the customers are directly involved. Thus, the protection of the brand lies almost solely on the resellers hands.
The suppliers are the lifeline of the resellers. You would not have any business at all if you do not have any product to sell. Having even just one supplier say something bad about you as a partner, can have grave consequences for your business. Rarely will successful suppliers stick their necks out for a single reseller given the usually vast market that they can control. Becoming a supplier’s partner forms an unwritten contract between them and the seller. This gives the seller the responsibility of protecting the brand as the main front of the business.
The bane of innovation in the online world is counterfeiting. Counterfeit goods are basically goods that are either poor copies of the original, acquired through illegitimate means or both. When the market is swarmed by the counterfeit, there is no telling the depth of the damage that it can do to the product and the legitimate sellers behind it. If the market becomes diluted enough with counterfeit, it could spell the end of the business.
The reseller will have no choice but to let go of products whose reputation has been ruined by counterfeit. This means less money for the seller and a broken relationship with the supplier.
In the end, what you will be losing as a seller is money. It may come as no surprise to you but the counterfeit market is flourishing despite all efforts of intellectual property law enforcement. The counterfeiting industry has been exacerbated by the anonymity of online counterfeiters.
Unlike back in the day where one could simply raid one storehouse to another, it is a completely different matter if that storehouse is on a different continent. What you can do as a seller is to be alert and register to online services that may help you. The platform itself has invested in ensuring that the online platform is flowing and that legitimate sellers are protected. However, this does not mean that all bases will be covered.
