Some useful ideas and tips for Amazon India Sellers based on experiences.
Seller can have different display name
A seller registers with a Firm/Company name as per GST certificate. But seller can have a different Display Name in Amazon Seller account. Seller can choose an attractive name or brand name. Amazon policies have to be followed for selecting a name.
On checking it was observed that same display name already taken by another Seller cannot be taken. But with variations of Spacing, Dash and Small/Big letter changes can be done to desired name.
A good Seller display name can be attractive, easy to remember, go with brand or product category.
A seller name should not be other’s brand name as per policy.
Multiple SKUs of same item
Though selling same item with different ASINs is not allowed but on checking some seller’s account and then checking with support team a seller can have multiple SKUs for same ASIN. This is useful is some cases.
- When seller wants to sell in FBA and do Easy Ship also. For an item which seller wants to sell through FBA it takes time to reach FBA. In such a case, seller can create one more SKU for the same ASIN and sell it as Easy/Self ship. When item is ready in FBA then seller can make this secondary SKU as Stock Out. Though seller can continue with both SKUs but some issues could be there. When both SKUs are active, only 1 SKU gets Buy Box. If seller is running ad campaigns then Ad might show for Merchant Fulfilled SKU and not FBA SKU. If FBA SKU is in Buy Box (which seller would want) then ad won’t be shown for the ASIN and it will defeat the purpose of ad campaign for the product. A seller would FBA item to be sold because it will be Prime enabled and would be incurring extra costs of storage.
- When an item is inactive or suppressed then the secondary SKU comes handy. Seller can activate/increase the quantity of secondary SKU
Naming convention for SKU
A seller should follow a naming convention which is short and convenient to recognize the item. When the business grows and there are many SKUs it should be easy to identify them with SKU name only. Staff has to pack the stuff and staff changes over time. Going with a convention would be easy and less prone to errors. There could be many articles on web about this. One concept would be to go with sequence by prefixing an alphabet. Prefixing alphabet i for Item with first item 1 with SKU i1. This could be parent SKU. A simple Child SKU can be i1_1, i1_2. A complex child SKU could be i1_1_1, i1_1_2 and i1_2_1. Another approach could be category prefix. If it is a bottle then it could be b1 or bo1 or bottle1.
With first approach, i can be replaced with different alphabets like c for copy (when creating copy of main SKU), f for FBA, p for parent etc.
In an another approach, blocks of sequence can be used. 1-100 for a particular category, 101-200 for another and so on.
Do remember that you might have to connect SKUs with external systems. So, going by a convention and logic will help
Go for Brand name
Most sellers start by mapping other seller’s items. They should be careful if the ASIN they are mapping to is branded, unbranded or generic. If it is branded then does the seller has Brand Approval as this may create issues later on. Unbranded means that other seller is using some brand name which is not registered yet. In such cases, Amazon might allow to map to this Unbranded ASIN but if the primary seller/creator of ASIN registers the brand then it might create an issue later on. Generic option looks like to be a new option which means no brand and it is a generic product.
Now considering this from Primary Seller’s perspective that s/he is selling without a registered Brand Name/Trademark then other sellers can map to their listing and sell. When the item is new, you as a seller spend time and money on it to list, photography and promote. You work hard to have a good Sale rank and then some seller maps to it and win buy box. This another seller now reaps the benefits of your listing.
So, Brand Name is good to have. Think of a brand name before you are going with your first listing and do check it’s availability. Though you can apply for it later when you think it is the right time. But if you don’t study and research brand name availability as per category initially then you might not be able to get same brand name later and brand name on listings can’t be changed.