Harnessing the power of Amazon’s customer loyalty can provide an incredible opportunity for growth among e-commerce businesses. And while it may seem counterintuitive, companies prioritizing direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales should still consider taking advantage of the reach and convenience of an Amazon Brand Storefront. 

Of course, these companies can be understandably wary of losing their brand identity by competing on a site with tens of millions of other products and sellers from around the globe. But rather than sacrificing such a significant advantage when selling on Amazon, businesses can use Storefronts to organize and feature their listings in a way that reinforces the brand, introduces new products and enhances the customer experience. 

Ultimately, whether an Amazon Brand Storefront hurts a DTC website depends on how a brand uses it and how well it integrates the Storefront into its overall e-commerce strategy. If used effectively, an Amazon storefront can actually help to boost a brand’s overall e-commerce sales rather than hurting them. Still, let’s start by addressing the concerns of many DTC brands. 

Don’t let these Amazon Storefront myths keep your brand away

An Amazon Brand Storefront is a powerful tool for businesses to reach millions of potential customers and expand their brand’s presence online. However, there are some myths that can discourage companies from utilizing this platform. Fortunately, a closer look at the reality behind these common misconceptions can help you leverage this tool to raise brand awareness and grow your company.

Selling on Amazon will cannibalize sales from your DTC site.

While some customers may prefer to purchase from your Amazon Storefront rather than your DTC site, selling on Amazon can help drive traffic to your direct-to-consumer brand. By leveraging the massive customer base on Amazon, you can increase brand awareness and loyalty, ultimately leading customers to explore your brand further and eventually purchase from your other DTC channels.

The competition on Amazon will undercut your pricing and make it difficult to compete.

While Amazon emphasizes competitive pricing, this doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t compete. By offering unique products and focusing on your brand identity and value proposition, you can differentiate yourself from other sellers on Amazon and maintain the margins you’re accustomed to. Additionally, Amazon offers a range of tools and analytics to help you optimize your pricing strategy and compete effectively.

Selling on Amazon means sacrificing control over your brand and customer experience.

While it’s true that selling on Amazon requires some degree of compromise regarding brand control and customer experience, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to sacrifice everything. In fact, an Amazon storefront is one of the best ways to strengthen your brand on the platform. By grouping your listings in one place and using the Storefront’s features to promote the messaging your company prioritizes, you can give shoppers a much more compelling experience than a single listing can accomplish. 

Amazon will steal your customer data and use it against you.

While Amazon does collect customer data, they also offer a range of tools and analytics to help you track customer behavior and engagement on your Storefront. By leveraging these tools, you can gain valuable insights into customer preferences and behavior, which can be used to optimize your DTC site and overall e-commerce strategy. Also, Amazon has strict policies to protect customer data and ensure that it is used responsibly.

Explore the benefits of an Amazon Brand Storefront

As the face of your products on Amazon, brand owners should be highly involved with creating their Amazon Store. However, it’s essential to keep in mind that design and branding are skills and not something to take lightly. While Amazon has gone to great lengths to make Storefront creation simple and accessible to any seller via templates and drag-and-drop tools, the task will undoubtedly benefit from a well-devised strategy and an experienced designer. Regardless of who creates it, an effective Storefront will benefit your business in several ways. 

Storefronts can embrace your customers’ preferences

One overlooked feature of an Amazon Storefront is its flexibility to reach customer’s in a familiar setting while also supporting your direct-to-consumer brand’s seasonal swings or promotional efforts. Tiles, featured products and categories can be easily adjusted to reflect the changing interests of consumers during holiday periods or when certain products are in higher demand. 

‍Amazon brand stores even offer a “Versioning & Scheduling” option to support temporary sales. This can be used to capitalize on events such as Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday while minimizing the disruption to your usual Storefront design and the amount of work required to adjust between versions. 

Keep in mind that your product presentation within an Amazon Storefront doesn’t have to be limited to an Amazon listing. It’s essential to clearly communicate the benefits the items you sell can provide a purchaser. You can make these benefits a key piece of your brand messaging through endorsements from credible reviewers or informative videos. 

‍Similarly, Amazon Stores can be an opportunity to educate customers more broadly about your brand and introduce them to other products they may be interested in. Rather than focusing entirely on promoting each product individually, consider how the items in your inventory can complement each other and which tools within the Storefront can be used to showcase those relationships.

Amazon Storefronts can strengthen your brand

E-commerce success doesn’t just come from selling products online. It also requires selling your brand to customers in a way that strengthens satisfaction and encourages loyalty. You want to relate to your customers as people, not just treat them as numbers on a spreadsheet. 

‍Creating an Amazon Storefront is an incredible opportunity to raise brand awareness among shoppers, which can lead to more sales. Customers who connect emotionally with a brand name have three times higher lifetime value. And according to Deloitte research, 80 percent of consumers would pay more for products if the company had committed itself to being socially responsible, environmentally responsible, and/or paying higher wages.

Don’t forget that Amazon is a trusted and credible platform, and having an Amazon Brand Storefront can help DTC brands establish credibility and trust with customers who may not be familiar with their brand. The advantage of an additional sales channel that is the first stop for many online shoppers is enormous and can help raise brand awareness and generate revenue. 

Deeper data can support all of your sales channels

One of the most significant benefits of opening an Amazon Storefront is the amount of data that becomes available to an Amazon seller. Joining the Brand Registry, a necessary first step to an Amazon Store, provides access to the Brand Analytics Dashboard. Furthermore, creating a Storefront leads to Store Insights about the shop’s performance. 

Strengthening your brand on Amazon and making it easier for shoppers to navigate your online shop aren’t the only reasons to build an Amazon Storefront. This invaluable tool allows your company to access data that wouldn’t otherwise be available. Once your online store is active on Amazon, you’ll be able to see the platform’s Store Insights and have a glimpse into the habits and sales conversions originating from visitors to your stores. 

Amazon Store insights also track how visitors find the online store. In some cases, the accuracy of this data will depend on your ability to utilize source tags within your digital marketing plan, including in Amazon Sponsored Ads. Data on the sources of your Store’s visitors can help a company evaluate current marketing efforts and provide direction for new initiatives. 

‍While Store Insights are specific to the performance of your Storefront, it’s not the only data accessible to Amazon brand owners. Participation in the Amazon Brand Registry program opens the door to Amazon’s Brand Analytics, making even more relevant information available to guide your decision-making.  

‍The data provided to a brand owner via the Brand Analytics dashboard comes from four types of reports. These include Amazon Search Terms, Market Basket Analysis, Item Comparison and Alternate Purchase Behavior, and Demographics.

Make an Amazon Storefront part of a comprehensive marketing campaign

Creating an Amazon Storefront should not be an isolated tactic. Instead, it needs to be part of a broader campaign to develop followers and strengthen your brand. Consider ways to drive traffic to your Amazon shop using your other brand assets, such as social media followers, digital advertising or a Sponsored Brands campaign. 

Take advantage of tagged source links when promoting your store on other advertising channels, whether social media platforms, email marketing or elsewhere. Capitalize on the new data sources from Brand Registry and Store Insights to inform your digital advertising campaign. Strategies such as retargeting customers who visit your products or competing listings can be much more effective than trying to convert shoppers who haven’t shown a previous interest in your items. 

‍Using these strategies can make your Amazon Storefront’s successes part of a comprehensive campaign that can help grow your business exponentially. Remember that just because Amazon is where your sales are happening, it’s not the only place to engage customers. All aspects of your branding and advertising should support your Amazon Store, and your presence on Amazon needs to contribute to your overall brand in return. Fortunately, utilizing an Amazon Storefront efficiently can help you do exactly that. 

Expand your brand with Amify

Since 2011, Amazon sellers have trusted Amify to help them reach more customers and outperform the competition. Our Amazon specialists and e-commerce experts have the tools to navigate the platform’s extensive landscape of options and find the techniques and relationships that will lead to growth.

Start a conversation today, and learn how we can connect you with the experience and resources you need to elevate your logistics, marketing or strategy and begin to grow your business on Amazon.