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BRAND
INVENTORY
Handmade at Amazon
ABSTRACT
An assessment and inventory of the brand elements,
marketing strategy, product line, and position within
the overall Amazon company.
PC
IMC 613 Late Fall 2015

2. 1
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Brand Positioning.......................................................................................................................................... 2
Products and Services................................................................................................................................... 2
To Sellers................................................................................................................................................... 2
To Buyers................................................................................................................................................... 3
Brand Hierarchy ........................................................................................................................................ 4
Brand Attitudes and Perceptions.............................................................................................................. 4
Brand Elements............................................................................................................................................. 5
Logo........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Imagery ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
Evaluation ................................................................................................................................................. 7
Marketing Support Programs........................................................................................................................ 7
Direct Marketing....................................................................................................................................... 7
Discover the Artisan Video Series............................................................................................................. 7
Search Engine Marketing and Keywords ..................................................................................................8
Sales Promotion........................................................................................................................................ 9
Competitive Environment............................................................................................................................. 9
Offline/Indirect Competition ..................................................................................................................10
References .................................................................................................................................................. 11

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Introduction
This portion of the brand Audit of Handmade at Amazon is a complete brand inventory. We will explore
the brand’s desired positioning first, and then the products and services it offers its two distinct client
bases, buyers and sellers. A brand hierarchy is given to better visualize the products and services.
Handmade at Amazon’s public perception and attitudes towards the brand are given in an effort to
better understand where the brand has to go to get to its desired positioning. Handmade at Amazon’s
Brand Elements are discussed and evaluated. Finally, we discuss the Marketing support programs and
competitive environment of Handmade at Amazon.
Brand Positioning
Dubbed “The Etsy killer” by the business and investment media, Handmade at Amazon is positioned to a
large online marketplace for handmade items.
Products and Services
To Sellers
Amazon offers two tiers of seller accounts, an individual and a professional account. This extends to
Handmade at Amazon sellers as well.
Figure 1 - Amazons Services offered to Sellers under its two teired plan via Amazon

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In addition to the monthly fee (waived until August 2016), Amazon also charges 12% of the selling price
as a listing fee.
Figure 2 - Schedule of Fees for Item Listings on Amazon
To Buyers
Amazon is a new marketplace, and has wrolled out with limited categories. The categories they sell in to
buyers are Jewelry, Home Décor, Artwork, Stationery & Party Supplies, Kitchen & Dining, Furniture,
Bedding.
These are an expansion on the categories that were live at launch, which were just Jewelry and Home
Décor. It would seem Handmade at Amazon is already seeing some success in attracting a wider variety
of sellers with these explanded categories. However, this doesn’t even touch the amount of variety
available on category leader, Etsy.

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Brand Hierarchy
Brand Attitudes and Perceptions
Handmade at Amazon is a new brand that launched in October of 2015, so many consumers and sellers
haven’t yet formed an opinion on the brand, however, there is much data available for the perceptions
of its parent company, Amazon, which was named 2014 best perceived brand (Gesenhues, 2015).
However, some of the perceptions people have of the Amazon brand do not translate to the Handmade
or buy small attitude. Words come up in discussions about Amazon like quick, easy, everything, huge,
cheap (WVU Ecampus, 2015).
However, some associations work in Amazon’s favor, such as convenience, one-stop-shop, reliability,
and ease of use. These are the positive attitudes that Amazon should try to apply to its new brand, while
leaving the big warehouse perception behind.
Handmade at
Amazon
Products to
Buyers
Bedding Furniture
Kitchen & Dining
Stationary and
Party Suppplies
Home Decor Jewelry
Services to
Sellers
Individual Plan
Item Listings
Shipping
Calculation
Payment
Processing
Professional
Plan
Advanced
Analytics
Favorable Fee
Schedule
Bulk listing Tools

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Brand Elements
Logo
Figure 3 - Handmade at Amazon's official logo via Handmade at Amazon
The Handmade at Amazon logo features a tie-on tag similar to those used before plastic tag guns were
made popular. These types of tags are still in use by many artisans today, and that is what Amazon is
trying to convey with that shape choice. The tag also features a small tear in the bottom, perhaps to
symbolize the rough or rustic nature of some handmade items, the small imperfections that make them
unique.
The logo features the ‘Handmade at’ in a handwriting-style slab serif, similar to many crafting brands.
The Amazon portion of the logo appears as a plain white version of the incredibly popular and well
known Amazon logo that belongs to the parent company. The Amazon logo at the bottom gives the
brand name secondary brand association to Amazon, the parent company, even if someone hasn’t
heard of Handmade at Amazon before.

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Imagery
Colorful, collage style imagery dominates the marketing communications for Handmade at Amazon.
Figure 4 - Handmade at Amazon Banner via BrandChannel
Even in their video marketing, Amazon utilizes the collage style to give an attitude of collaboration and
diversity (Shayon, 2015).
Figure 5 - Youtube Video advertisement for Handmade at Amazon

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Faces and hands are also a huge theme in the promotional video imagery. The idea of putting a face to
the products made, and showing them being made by hand and not machines promotes Handmade at
Amazon’s message of shopping small.
Evaluation
Handmade at Amazon’s brand elements aren’t particularly original, so they may not be very memorable
to buyers and sellers, even if they will recall the Amazon brand. However, though they played it safe,
you can see the meaning behind the logo and imagery quite clearly. These elements are not transferable
to other industries or products, but are likely protectable from competition stealing or trying to imitate
them.
Marketing Support Programs
Direct Marketing
Handmade at Amazon sent emails directly to targeted and curated Etsy sellers inviting them to the new
platform, stating “We’re offering artisans like you a first peek at Handmade, a new marketplace for
handcrafted goods.” (Bensinger, 2015). As a result, they were able to secure 5,000 sellers in 60
countries for the very day the launched (McFarland, 2015).
Discover the Artisan Video Series
A content marketing effort on Handmade at Amazon’s part, the brand launched a video series following
the process and people behind the products launching on Handmade at Amazon.

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Figure 6 - An example of the "Discover the Artisan" video series via Brand Channel
Search Engine Marketing and Keywords
As you can see, even after only being a few months old, Handmade at Amazon is already #2 in the
search rankings for Handmade Items. This is through a combination of SEO and keyword placement by
Amazon’s web engineers and content writers. This is a huge draw for sellers, since they see their
marketplace represented right next to Etsy, the largest marketplace on the web and the current
category leader.

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Sales Promotion
In an effort to attract more sellers to their platform, Handmade at Amazon is offering “Professional”
seller plans for free until August 2016. This plan is normally $40 a month, so the promotion results in
$320 in savings for a store who utilizes it for 8 months (Amazon, 2015).
Competitive Environment
Handmade at Amazon is primarily competing against category leader Etsy, but also faces competition
from other online and offline competitors.
Competitor Active
Buyers
Sellers Categories
Sold
Fees Points of Difference
Handmade
at Amazon
278 million
(Bensinger,
2015)
10,000 6 2 Teirs: Individual
(free) or Professional
- $40/mo
12% of each item
sale (Amazon, 2015)
- Huge existing user
base
- Logistic tools already
in place, analytics
and shipping, as well
as fulfillment
- Brand name
recognition, even
though it is brand
new
- Curated, sellers
must be approved
and invited
Etsy 20.8 million
(Bensinger,
2015)
1.35
million
(Statista,
2014)
15 top level
categories,
over 50
sub-
categories
.20 listing fee, 3.5%
of each sale, plus
what payment
processor charges.
- Supporting
handmade sellers
and small business
has always been the
mission of Etsy
- More trust from
sellers and a larger
established seller
base
- Looser definitions of
handmade, anyon
can start a shop in
minutes
Storenvy Over 1
million (last
data
reported was
Over 50k 10 Top
Level
Categories,
and ~40 sub
categories.
10% flat fee, across
the board (Storenvy,
n.d.).
- Hyper-individualized
- A collection of
storefronts, not
items

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in 2013)
(Grant, 2013)
Sellers can
build their
own
category
structure on
their
individual
site.
- Categories are
seller-defined
- Custom Domains
- Customize look and
feel with themes
Points of Parity:
- All sell handmade, local, small batch items
- All offer and online space to do so
- Seller is responsible for listing, shipping, and marketing items
Offline/Indirect Competition
Handmade at Amazon, as well as its other competitors, also have to contend with artisans selling their
goods outside of online marketplaces. Sellers may choose to open their own individual web store with
no ties to any marketplace. This has advantages to the sller because they save money on fees, as well as
no lost business to other shops. However, the traffic is also much lower on an individual site, and they
are harder to market. For a buyer, he or she mst create a new account and give information in an
individual regarding payment, rather than a 1 or 2 click checkout process for Amazon or Etsy (if they are
already registered).
Local craft fairs, flea markets, and small brick and morters also compete with Handmade at Amazon.
These venues offer something Amazon cannot: instant delivery, and personal interaction with the goods
and artisan. However, the selection will be extremely limited for buyers, and for sellers, there is also the
added overhead of setting up shop in one of these places.

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References
Amazon. (2015). Handmade at Amazon Fee Schedule. Retrieved from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hnd_lp?nodeId=201818920
Bensinger, G. (2015, May 22). Amazon Targets Etsy With 'Handmade' Marketplace. Retrieved from The
Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-targets-etsy-with-handmade-
marketplace-1432332301
Gesenhues, A. (2015, January 16). 2014 Top 10 Best Perceived Brands: Amazon & YouTube Take The
Lead. Retrieved from MarketingLand: http://marketingland.com/top-10-best-perceived-brands-
amazon-ranks-1-youtube-2-114668
Grant, R. (2013, August 7). Marketplace for cool stuff Storenvy hits 1M users, 50K stores. Retrieved from
Venture Beat: http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/07/marketplace-for-cool-stuff-storenvy-hits-
1m-users-50k-stores/
McFarland, T. (2015, October 17). Amazon Takes Aim at Etsy with Handmade. Retrieved from Small
Business Trends: http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/10/handmade-at-amazon.html
Shayon, S. (2015, October 8). Handmade at Amazon Challenges Etsy’s Artisanal Marketplace. Retrieved
from Brand Channel: http://brandchannel.com/2015/10/08/handmade-at-amazon-100815/
Statista. (2014). Number of active Etsy sellers from 2012 to 2014. Retrieved from Statista:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/409374/etsy-active-sellers/
Storenvy. (n.d.). General FAQs. Retrieved from Storenvy Support: https://support.storenvy.com/
WVU Ecampus. (2015, November 18). Week 5 Discussion: Handmade at Amazon. Retrieved from WVU
Ecampus:
https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&forum
_id=_136058_1&nav=discussion_board&conf_id=_67189_1&course_id=_51547_1&message_id
=_2035355_1#msg__2035355_1Id