As early as November of 2018, there have been questions circulating in the Seller Central forums about Amazon’s Brand Health Alerts. Though Amazon hasn’t made any official statements responding to these questions, here is what Hinge has noticed over the last few months:
Amazon started issuing alerts to sellers on Seller Central to notify them that they had to lower their prices to match an item being sold either on Amazon or elsewhere (typically Walmart, Ebay, or Jet). Many sellers are reporting that if they do not comply, Amazon is revoking their eligibility to be listed on the product detail page (PDP). Here is one message that was sent to a Hinge client. Under "Brand Health Description" it read:
“Currently Ineligible to be a Featured Offer on Product Detail Page. Set your price + shipping equal to or less than the competitive price or adopt automate price to restore eligibility to your offer to be featured on the product detail page.”
Why is Amazon doing this? Though Amazon has no official stance on their motives, there are a few theories buzzing through the forums. However, the opinions of angry vendors should be taken with a grain of salt. At Hinge, we believe the motivation behind this decision lies in Amazon’s desire to ensure that the best deals can be found on their platform as part of their customer-centric initiatives. From the instances Hinge has seen with brand health alerts, it has only affected Brand Registered Sellers. It is unclear how this issue may be affecting sellers without brand registry at this time.
If you are a seller being affected by the Brand Health Alert, it is important that you DO NOT LOWER YOUR PRICE or adopt the automatic pricing option recommended by Amazon. The first thing you should do is search other platforms to identify where the item is being sold for less and go through the process to have the price updated on other platforms to properly reflect the desired price on Amazon. This is easier for third-party sellers with brand registry than for other third-party sellers for obvious reasons. If you are an approved third-party seller, it is important to contact the company to notify them of the issue.
Customers remember changes in price, and complying with Amazon’s recommendation could affect the perceived value of your product. If customers are regularly seeing lower prices, those will become the prices they come to expect and may leave negative feedback in the Questions and Answers section of the PDP or in reviews. It’s a dangerous path to start walking down if you do not want to change the price permanently. Though we understand why Amazon is interested in ensuring Amazon customers get the best deals, it is just as important that you protect your brand value as well.