Amazon has launched a new feature for U.S. sellers on the marketplace, enabling their storefronts to be displayed in the search bar. Branded searches are now more prominent for buyers, displaying suggested storefronts even for unbranded searches such as “men’s sportswear clothing”.

The feature is still in its initial stages of launching, and Amazon has not indicated which brands are participating or how Amazon algorithms will suggest stores for unbranded search terms. However, the new changes are indicating that Amazon storefronts will become more visible across the marketplace, meaning that it is worthwhile for sellers to utilise the full capabilities of storefronts to increase the chances of success.

What are storefronts?

Launched by Amazon in 2017, storefronts are a free self-service platform feature that enables vendors and sellers to create brand stores that function as landing pages within the marketplace. Each store can be customised with brand designs, product curation, and integrated social buttons integrated through product modules. Storefronts also have a dedicated dashboard with traffic insights.

Aside from the announced changes in the search bar, brand stores have few discovery options in the marketplace. Customers can only locate a storefront by clicking on a brand’s name within a product listing, Google searches, or through advertising tools such as Sponsored Brands.

Why use storefronts?

Creating an Amazon store enables brands to create a more immersive shopping experience by showcasing product lines and the brand. Storefronts also lower the barrier to a shopper’s purchase intent and can drive incremental increases in sales. Customers are also able to discover, learn, and browse a variety of product offerings from the same brand, with mobile responsiveness included.

Storefronts are essential tools for sellers looking to:

• Develop brand loyalty with shoppers

• Capitalise on internal and external traffic

• Promote new products

• Educate potential customers about the brand and USPs

• Boost organic rankings on the marketplace

Sellers participating in key shopping periods such as Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday can also create sub-category pages with exclusive deals that can be linked to Sponsored Brand campaigns.

How to access the storefronts feature?

Merchants interested in creating a storefront must register their brand with Amazon’s Brand Registry, which will also provide access to A+ Content and Sponsored Product Ads. Currently, Amazon only accepts trademarks issued by government offices in specific countries.

 For a brand to be eligible for approval, merchants will need:

• A registered trademark which appears on the products or packaging

• The ability to verify as the rights owner or authorised agent for the trademark

• An existing Amazon account in Vendor or Seller Central

Amazon will contact the person associated with the registered trademark during the application process to determine whether the brand meets Brand Registry requirements. Approval times can often vary but will typically take around 24 hours. Once approved, Amazon will send a verification code that can be used to enrol in Brand Registry.

Creating a storefront

Following approval, merchants will see the storefront option appear in the main navigation bar in Seller or Vendor Central. Selecting this option will navigate merchants to the storefront builder, which will require users to upload the brand name and logo before proceeding.

The next steps will vary depending on the level of customisation required. Amazon makes it relatively easy for beginners to create a storefront using pre-created layout designs. Within the storefront builder, designs are created using modules that feature a drag-and-drop system. In the pre-existing storefront designs, Amazon has included three layouts:

• Product highlight layout to focus on the best-selling products with a prominent image or video

• Product grid which showcases all items from a brand’s catalogue

• Marquee layout featuring big images to highlight several products from the brand

Merchants also have the option of starting with a blank design, although this is recommended only for those with design experience. Each page will require a meta description to be set, which should be short and simple to summarise the page contents, products and how they will help shoppers.

Embedding your branding

The arrangement of design tiles within the storefront will depend on how you want to display your brand to potential customers. It is worth considering how custom designs, product information, and lifestyle photography will fit within Amazon guidelines and restrictions.

Storefronts offer a variety of customisable tiles, allowing you to embed products, text, videos, and images. Within each content tile, there are also a variety of customisable elements that can help further refine the design and layout of each page. More information about storefront design and custom modules can be found on the official Amazon website.

Expanding your storefront

Adding more pages to an Amazon storefront can help shoppers navigate the site easier and discover products in a logical order. When expanding your storefront, the aim should be to create straight-forward navigation which includes distinct categories. Embedding additional pages with the latest products, new deals, and bundles is also effective for brands with a large number of product offerings on the marketplace.

Summary

Storefronts can be a powerful tool for brands on Amazon, but although it is easy to create stores it is difficult to master the process. Merchants should consider how the storefront will reflect their existing branding, website, and other channels, as this may be the first interaction point for a potential customer. It is also recommended to consider how the design of the storefront will evolve once more products become available, as this can save a considerable amount of time redesigning the store. Creating a fully optimised storefront requires considerations into design, branding, and customer experience.

As the marketplace continues to become more crowded with brands, storefronts are a powerful tool for differentiating your business from the competition and engage with buyers. For more information about creating fully optimised storefronts, get in touch with one of our dedicated specialists to learn about how we can help.