Brand equity refers to the value a brand commands among its competitors in a particular industry and product category.

It is used by marketing departments to boost brand presence and product awareness in the market.

Everything that makes a brand includes the name, logo, image, and customers’ perceptions of the product or service.

Hence, companies often strive to build brand equity so they can leverage on the popular brand name to create additional benefits.

Once your brand has gained tremendous recognitions in the market, you can leverage on this popularity to penetrate other markets or use same brand name to promote a new product.

You can take advantage of brand equity using any or all of the following three approaches.

Brand Extension:

Brand extension describes a situation where companies use an established brand name to launch new product categories.

Building a new product or brand from scratch can be time consuming as well as financially intensive.

However, if a well known brand name is extended to promote a new product, there is a higher likelihood that such product will be embraced by the customers who have placed the established brand in a high esteem.

Line Extension:

Line extension describes product in the same category but with a new outlook.

Companies can leverage on existing popular brand to launch a new variety to capture a new market segment.

New variants in terms of flavors, models or colors can be launched within the same product category using the established brand name for new customer segments seeking new tastes or benefits.

This approach can create new markets for the company.

Brand Stretching or Vertical Extensions:

When a market has become saturated, companies may adopt brand stretching approach to regain their market share.

Companies may also use this approach when they spot opportunities in a premium or/and value segment of the market.

This strategy can be used to open a new market for an establish brand.

Simply put, brand equity measures values of a brand. It allows for opportunities to take more advantage of the market.

Brand Visibility on Amazon

Look at nearly any online marketplace study and you will find a trend.

Most consumers shopping online begin their steps to make purchasing decisions by taking it to the web.

Customers do their own market research to essentially “Check” the brand and authenticate the products or claims it is offering. - Tony Washington

A few thoughts a customer may ask themselves when making a buying decision:

• Is this a legitimate item?
• Is this a high-end/high-quality brand or product?
• Where is the brand from?
• Is it rated highly?

A large percent of customers perform a google search and some even decide to visit your website.

After completing initial steps to research a brand or product, the research for online shoppers does not end there.

Many shoppers aren’t satisfied with the information they find from companies online, so they visit a recognized source of authoritative information for product reviews.

Where is that? You may have guessed, Amazon.com.

Amazon is one of the most well known companies in the world.

Virtually everyone knows the brand Amazon in the United States and North America.

Amazon is constantly increasing and pushing its own brand visibility with launches of its own products.

Some of the products and services include:

• Prime Membership
• “Free One-Day Shipping”
• Amazon Alexa
• Amazon FireTV
• Amazon Echo

Each successful launch is a way to build brand equity by getting people saying “Amazon”.

How can a vendor leverage Amazon to improve and increase overall brand visibility?

Many people ask us. Our top recommendation goes back to the beginning of Amazon, when our buyers would say ‘content is king’. You have to be disciplined and ensure detail page content (e.g. Copy and Images) is structured to highlight the products most impactful features and benefits.

Here at Anderson & Associates, this is one of our top focuses we emphasize as a priority when working with clients and brand catalogs.

Having great copy and images pages is a start, but vendors cannot forget to take it a step further by having a great brand image.

Just like in a brick and mortar store, to increase brand awareness for customers shopping brands, vendors must ensure anywhere a customer looks, the brand is well represented.

This is proven to improve customer trust in the brand and not decrease it.

A Case Study

Looking at one brand for “dishware”, they have built a nice looking Amazon Store and this has effect of making the brand feel high-end and properly put together and organized.

The same search shows another brand with nice items, but no Amazon Store.

There’s no cohesive feeling or way to up-sell and does not highlight or “tell a story” for the customer that they are shopping at a high-end brand.

You should always work to increase customers trust in your brand.

Make sure anywhere they look, your Brand will shine and always show its quality.

The separation is in the preparation. - Tony Washington

Preparing your brand to look its best on Amazon is a no-brainer and a must-do for anyone serious about the Amazon platform.

Curious where you stand with your brand?

Are you optimizing content? Have the marketplace tools to push your brand to the top?

Schedule a phone call with us and we would be happy to “Walk your store” and provide actionable feedback to get you started.