Amazon is testing “brand skins” with some top brands, according to Levi’s Director of Ecommerce Gopal Kolli. He confirmed the test when responding to a tweet showing a screenshot of a Fruit of the Loom listing on Amazon.
Ryan Craver, CEO of agency Commerce Canal, tweeted Sunday morning, “Looks as though Amazon playing with some prominence coloring/display on larger mass brands like Fruit of Loom product pages.”
“Yes. Brand skins,” replied Kolli. “They started with top 20 vendors across Amazon as part of a Maquee Seller program Amazon has launched for big brands. We’ve enabled this for Levi’s as well. I think it is currently in A/B test.”
Levi’s is the top Softlines Vendor on Amazon, according to Kolli’s LinkedIn profile, where he states, “Grew the business profitably 40% YoY with a great partnership from the Amazon team.” His profile also shows he spent a year at Amazon as Ecommerce Manager in the Home category, “developing strategic and tactical plans to drive top-line revenue.”
Craver’s screenshot shows a product detail page for “Fruit of the Loom Boys’ Cooling Breathable Mesh Boxer Briefs.”
What first jumps out is the blue frame, featuring the Fruit of the Loom logo, around the page.
Comparing it with a listing that doesn’t feature the “brand skin” shows it appears to hide sponsored ads, which would be a major benefit. For instance, on a Fruit of the Loom underwear listing that doesn’t feature the brand skin, there’s an ad for a competitor’s offering (Tommy Hilfiger Men’s Underwear) in a prominent placement on the page – below the nav bar, above the listing.
Check out the screenshot in the Twitter post to see the brand skin, and let us know what you think of it.
Advertising has become a major revenue generator for marketplaces, and the following video on “The Importance of Brand Advertising” shows how Amazon is pitching companies.
