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5 sinais de que sua marca perdeu o controle no marketplace
BranddiIP Team ·
Are you sure that it is still your brand that controls sales on marketplaces or are algorithms and parallel sellers dictating the rules?
E-commerce in Brazil exceeded R$ 234 billion in revenue, according to ABComm, and the large marketplaces (Amazon, Mercado Livre and Magalu) concentrate almost 80% of online sales.
The large volume of sales on marketplaces brings new ones to sellers. An unauthorized seller, a price below the suggested minimum or a duplicate ad can affect your brand's results.
In the list we prepared, you will understand the five clearest signs that you are losing control of your sales on the marketplaces! And how to reestablish control over your channels before the problem becomes structural.
Sign 1: unauthorized sellers and questionable products
Unauthorized sellers are third-party profiles that sell products within the marketplace without any contractual link, commercial authorization or resale policy established with the original brand.
The phenomenon occurs, in general, due to errors in brand control, such as lack of monitoring of the catalogue, distribution policies inefficient or faulty SKU traceability.
Unauthorized sellers exploit gaps in marketplace channels to insert offers with lower prices, dubious origin and attributes that do not exist in the original product.
The biggest risks involve the erosion of brand credibility and the transfer of responsibility by negative experiences. Complaints about counterfeits, delays or damaged products fall to the legitimate manufacturer.
Check the indicators to identify the presence of parallel sellers:
- Sudden difference in price compared to official resellers;
- Duplicate product titles, with small variations to circumvent the algorithm;
- Reviews mentioning different packaging or lack of warranty;
- Profiles newly created or with a history of sales in diverse and non-standard categories;
- Lack of information about CNPJ or company name, making it difficult to track the seller.
Sign 2: prices below suggested prices and internal commercial war
The break in the Suggested Minimum Price (PMS) occurs when distributors, resellers and even counterfeiters reduce prices to compete with each other, without respecting the sales policy brand pricing. cannibalizing sales and weakening the perception of the product's value in the market.
Signs of a commercial war due to prices below what is suggested:
- Sudden price reductions on certain SKUs, without official campaigns;
- Value fluctuations between different resellers of the same product;
- Aggressive offers from new sellers who are not included in the partner base approved;
- Price differences between marketplaces, indicating lack of channel uniformity.
Sign 3: loss of Buy Box
The Buy Box is the space on the right side of the product page, where the “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” button appears. This is where most sales take place.
The algorithm of platforms such as Amazon, Magalu or Mercado Livre automatically decides which seller “wins” the Buy Box, based on criteria of competitive price, reputation, delivery time and stock availability.
If the brand loses the Buy Box, it ceases to be the main purchasing option, even if the product belongs to them. In practice, the consumer may be purchasing an identical (or even counterfeit) item from another seller, simply because the algorithm understands that that ad offers a “better experience” for the buyer.
This phenomenon usually happens when there is lack of control over the reseller ecosystem, lack of price standardization or a drop in the reputation of the official seller.
In other cases, unfair competition from unauthorized sellers forces the algorithm to favor offers with an artificially reduced price, harming the legitimate operation of the brand.
Check out the main symptoms of Buy Box loss:
- Sudden reduction in the conversion rate, even with a high volume of views;
- Presence of multiple sellers offering the same SKU with small price variations;
- Notice of “other sellers selling this product” appearing with highlight;
- Visibility fluctuations in the marketplace's internal searches, with the product falling in position;
- Increased customer acquisition cost (CAC), as the official advertisement needs paid media to compete.
Sign 4: false advertisements and cloned products
The proliferation of false advertisements and cloned products is a direct threat to the integrity of the brand. Scammers use the company's name, logo and even official descriptions to create fake pages or advertisements identical to the originals, with the aim of capturing improper sales or collecting personal data from unsuspecting buyers.
In many cases, counterfeiters copy all official content, including high-resolution photos and SEO texts, making it very difficult to distinguish the real from the fake.
The scam takes place when the end consumer receives a low quality product, refurbished or simply don't receive anything. The financial loss may be borne by the buyer, but the reputational damage falls entirely on the legitimate brand.
The deceived consumer associates the scam with the real company, multiplying complaints on sites such as Reclame Aqui, social networks and customer service channels. “amaz0n” or “lojaoficial123”);Duplicate images, replicated from official advertising campaigns;Descriptions copied word for word, without adaptation or typical SEO structure;Offers with unrealistic discounts or universal free shipping;Absence of verification seal or sales history, especially in newly created accounts.Sign 5: disorganization of the catalog and duplicity of adsCatalog inconsistency occurs when several sellers publish the same product in a non-standard way, resulting in duplicate SKUs, incoherent images and divergent descriptions.
In addition to affecting organic indexing and the authority of the main ad, this duplicity generates a loss of algorithmic relevance, reducing positioning in search results and making it difficult to achieve Buy Box.
In operational terms, catalog disorganization is an indicator of lack of data standardization and lack of integration between PIM (Product Information Management) systems and the marketplace environment.
Check out the symptoms of catalog disorganization and duplicity below:
- Multiple active ads for the same SKU, with small differences in name or category;
- Images that are out of line with the official visual identity, with variations in background, logo or angle;
- Incomplete or conflicting technical descriptions, generating doubts in the consumer;
- Categorization errors, which move the product to irrelevant segments;
- Gradual drop in organic performance, caused by dispersion of clicks and loss of authority of the main ad.
You know who is really selling your products on marketplaces now? If the answer is “no”, it is a sign that control of your brand has slipped through your fingers, but the good news is that there is still time to regain it.
Some measures to regain control:
- Monitor marketplaces and know, in real time, who is using your brand name;
- Centralize the catalog to ensure that titles, images and descriptions are always standardized;
- Apply the PMS (Minimum Suggested Price) firmly to prevent internal price wars;
- Notify irregular sellers and take down anyone who is tarnishing the brand reputation;
- Blind the brand, investing in digital protection, registration and automatic audits.
When your company's name is being used by dozens of sellers, you are already losing value and margin. But, with some reputation protection strategies, the marketplace can once again become a sales channel!