Defining Your FBA Brand: What Does it Take?

The Importance of FBA Brands

eCommerce sales have exploded over the last few years, a trend that was only accelerated by the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2020, eCommerce retail sales in the U.S. increased by 32.4%, according to U.S. census data. Shopping is only going to become more digital.

As online shopping grows, so does the number of brands hoping to strike while the iron is hot. This can be overwhelming for consumers, who have to wade through a sea of competition. When browsing Amazon, for example, they may see hundreds of products that look virtually identical. How do you make sure that they’ll choose yours? 

It all comes down to standing out and making your offerings unique, which starts with creating a brand.

In simple terms, a brand is a design, symbol, or name that differentiates your products from the competition. But at its core, a brand is much more than that. It's a way to define your priorities as a business, your intended audience, and the ways in which your products are different from everyone else's. It brings character to your company.

How Brands Are Getting Noticed

In today's online shopping world, customers are introduced to your brand product first, meaning they'll find your brand when searching for a product. You won't necessarily have time to pull them in with advertisements explaining your mission statement and product benefits.

This differs from traditional branding techniques that relied on expensive multimedia ads, TV spots, and other forms of marketing to get a company's brand imprinted in a person's mind. While these may have been effective for large brands, they were expensive and slow-moving. Rather than just creating a campaign in one night, they had to sift through weeks of focus groups and testing to see if a certain campaign would be worth the investment.

Spending thousands -- or more -- on a cumbersome multimedia campaign is no longer the best way of obtaining a customer’s mental availability. Defined as the idea that, in a buying situation, a consumer will be more likely to disproportionately favor your brand over others, mental availability is key to developing a brand. But the old ways of standing out are no longer enough. Instead, your brand has to stand out in new ways, like getting your products to the first page of search results and having positive reviews. This separates you from the competition. That's because 70% of customers on Amazon don't scroll past the first page of results, and one-third of customers don't buy Amazon products that don't have positive feedback.

At the end of the day, brands with strong reputations have a 31% higher return for shareholders, a three times faster profit growth, and 31% greater revenue growth. So, it's pretty clear that if you want to excel on Amazon, you'll need to lean heavily into your branding efforts.

Understanding All the Parts of an Amazon Seller Brand

What makes a brand a brand? It's often a combination of things working together.

Visual Identity

Visual elements are one of the first things a customer will notice when browsing Amazon search results. Color is especially important: brand recognition improves by 80% when color is introduced. Having a consistent logo and typography is also crucial, as this kind of consistency can increase revenue by up to 23%. Eventually, customers will automatically associate a certain product image with your store, even without needing to click through to your listing. They'll be able to tell it's you right away, and if you've offered them a good experience in the past, they'll trust in the product that much more. 

Purpose and Promise

What do you want your brand to stand for? Perhaps it’s becoming carbon neutral in your business. Or maybe you want to donate some of your profits to a charitable organization. Whatever it might be, every brand should have a purpose behind it, because 89% of shoppers will be loyal to brands that espouse the same values they do.

Brand Voice

In the same way that you can identify your best friend by the sound of their voice, customers should be able to identify your brand by the consistency of your brand voice. Every bit of copy, from your product descriptions to your customer service, should be consistent.

What that voice sounds like is up to you, and it largely depends on your audience. If you’re selling products geared toward a younger audience, you might keep things fun and light, but an adult audience might prefer a more professional and informative tone. However you sound, a voice that’s personalized can pay big dividends, as 73% of people want to do business with brands that personalize their shopping experience.

Incorporate Influencers

This personalization is also why influencer marketing can be so powerful when it comes to scaling your brand. Influencer marketing is the relationship between an influencer and a brand, and it gives your brand a voice. Influencers bring a sense of trust and authenticity that brands can’t always replicate due to the fact that influencers are seen as everyday people, whereas brands might not always seem as trustworthy. According to a study conducted by Business Wire, 61% of people are likely to trust recommendations from influencers on social platforms, compared to 38% that are likely to trust a brand on social media.

A Cohesive Story

Everyone loves a good story, and chances are, your FBA brand has a great one to tell. Lean into your origins, and don’t shy away from how much your company has grown and changed. Highlight the people behind the scenes and your purpose for being in business to help customers connect with you better. You’re not just a nameless, faceless Amazon owner, so don’t run a nameless, faceless Amazon store. Customers want to connect with you as much as you want to connect with them. In fact, if they love your brand story, around 55% will buy your product at a future date and 15% will buy it right away.

Branded Businesses Are Easier to Sell

Establishing a brand will help your business thrive. And having an established brand will make your business stand out when it comes time to sell. After all, it's one of the many things buyers look for when determining whether or not to buy an FBA store.

When that day comes, Boosted Commerce will be there to help. We provide extensive resources to guide you through the selling process, and we’ll stick around after the sale to help you transition into your new venture.

Ready to learn more? Start planning your exit by contacting us today.