Now, at least 700,000 brands on Amazon have a trademark. That's a 40% increase from last year. You'd be surprised that a growing number of brands don't even bother registering a brand name with an easy recall. Instead, random letter combinations such as LORELEI, RORSOU, MAJCF, or even VBIGER are more common nowadays.
It veers away from the usual easy-to-remember brand names. This only goes to show that businesses have their brands and trademarks not for customers to remember but rather as a required artifact to sell on Amazon. It's also less likely that these letters will clash with existing trademarks in the USPTO database, making registering a lot easier.
In 2021, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) received an all-time high of 943,928 trademark registrations. This is a tremendous increase of 70% in just five years. With this number of trademark applications, it's not surprising that the office has a great current processing backlog. So if you're looking to file a trademark for your brand today, the processing time might take longer than usual.
Of these USPTO trademark registrations, 25% of them were for businesses in China. Again, it's a significant jump from their share of 5% five years ago.
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If you're a US seller who uses Amazon to fulfill orders to your customers in Canada and Mexico, you should expect to pay more starting June 30, 2022.
Amazon FBA sellers who don't cater to these countries should be wary because Amazon may automatically enroll FBA sellers into the program. If you want to opt-out, you'll have to do it proactively. Failure to do so will continue your enrollment in the program.
This service is called Remote Fulfillment with FBA. Through this service, Amazon will use the sellers' inventory stored in the US fulfillment centers. These orders will then be shipped directly to the customer across the border.
Additional explanations on the Seller Central help page are as follows:
"The program offers Prime customers free shipping in Mexico (5 to 9 days) and Canada (7 to 12 days). Customers pay applicable import duties and taxes on the items they order and take ownership after the shipping company picks up the items from the US fulfillment center. Returns go directly back to the US and are subject to the FBA customer returns policy."
You can read more of the costs associated with Remote Fulfillment with FBA and how they will change on June 30. But aside from these rate increases, Amazon will also include a dimensional weight adjustment to align with the standard FBA rate structure better.
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A seller posted on Reddit that they experienced a 25% drop in sales within the last 30 to 60 days after Amazon marked all of their products as sold by a "small business." Shoppers can identify this on listings with a little icon and tag below their products in the results.
They claim that this prominent drop in sales is uncommon for them and that they sell relatively consistently. They even held the #2 best-selling brand in their niche for a lengthy period. However, the OP felt like the "small business" tag could be hurting them, making them less reputable than they are.
Other users weighed in on the conversation since the original poster (OP) asked the forum if other sellers had experienced the same thing. Someone said that they got this badge in one of their client's brands in the UK but didn't see a decline in their sales. Suggestions included contacting Amazon Support to have it removed.
Another Redditor also pointed out that a 25% drop in sales in those last 60 days is suitable for general goods since the drop could be observed industry-wise. This suggests that the decline in sales might not be directly related to the tag but rather a reflection of the consumers' buying decisions.
There was also a suggestion to check how the Pay-Per-Clicks (PPC) are doing. The decline in sales might be due to ads that didn't run or new competitors the OP might not have caught.
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As an Amazon seller, you know there's no such thing as planning too early.
October, which marks the start of Q4, might be months away from now, but there are still a lot of factors to consider! From talking to manufacturers, ordering the supplies, getting them shipped, planning for the marketing strategy, and much more.
So don't wait up until the very last minute! Here's a heads up on what to expect this holiday season:
Halloween will be hugeCelebrating Halloween has evolved over the years. Consumer spending for this season was up over $2 billion in 2021 compared to 2020. Now that the world's slowly returning to what was pre-pandemic, it's expected that people will be hosting and attending Halloween parties left and right, prompting an increase in sales in this category.
So if you're selling in this product category, you should stock up on your best-sellers early. Data shows how the demand is beginning to increase prematurely. Halloween 2021's rise in search traffic began to surge a month earlier than it had two years ago.
Black Friday marks the start of the holiday surge
Gone are the days wherein Black Friday sales meant having to camp outside of brick-and-mortar stores. Instead, Amazon.com hosts one of the most significant sales on its platform! In 2021, Black Friday and Thanksgiving sales made $14.04 billion online sales.
For Christmas, being specific is the key!
The Christmas season is when you're most likely to see significant sales increases. Your sales will greatly depend on how aggressive you are with your marketing strategies and how you position your products with the keywords. Remember that your products can live in more than one niche - and the holidays are the best time to arrange it this way!
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