For sellers, the ASIN is quite an important number. Among all the industry terms you come across while being a seller on Amazon, there’s ASIN that you shouldn’t miss.
Do you want to know why ASIN is such a big deal for sellers? Well, before that, you should know why Amazon uses ASINs.
The biggest eCommerce marketplace has more than 353 million products on its platform. And ASINs are crucial for the brand to keep its products organized.
ASIN benefits Amazon in many other ways, and there’s also a plethora of things it does for sellers.
This article will give you a detailed glimpse of what Amazon ASINs are. Following that, you will get every other information associated with them.
What is Amazon ASIN?
ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) is a distinct number given to a product that lists on Amazon. It is to properly organize them in the crowd of millions of products. Amazon uses this ASIN to keep a tab on your product and rank it.
As a seller, you will be using ASIN for conducting keyword research. It is to help rank your product on the top of the list when someone searches for it.
It represents a 10-digit code assigned to every product you add for listing on the site. This code will be in an alphanumeric code form, which Amazon will further use for:
- Tracking the products over the website and application
- Quickly locate the product in warehouses
- Track the pick-up and shipping status of the products
- Help customers with information on their product’s shipping progress
Using an Existing ASIN for Selling Your Products
If you intend to sell your range of products over Amazon, ASIN is mandatory for each item and not for each category. But do you always have to get a new ASIN to sell your products on Amazon?
It would be best if you would be saved from the hassle of looking up for new ASINs to list your products on the biggest marketplace. Isn’t it?
Suppose you are an arbitrage seller, which means you resell the products you buy from somewhere else. In that case, you can list and sell your products with an existing ASIN.
Or, if the product you want to sell has an existing ASIN over Amazon, you can still use the same for listing your product. When you do that, the product displayed on the website will have many pricing options on the same page.
How to Get an ASIN for Your Product?
You need to make a few considerations to get an ASIN for your product. First, you need to ensure that there’s no existing ASIN for the products you want to sell on Amazon.
If you have a few products to list over the platform, then do a manual search for regular ASINs over Amazon. You will find them in the details section of a product or their site address after the Amazon URL. But, if you have a large count of products, get an ASIN lookup tool to help you automate searching for regular ASINs. If found, you can use those existing ASINs to list your product on Amazon.
Amazon has this restriction where you cannot create a new ASIN for an existing product. You are bound to match the product to that existing ASIN within seller central.
Depending on the listing details, sales history, and other such aspects, Amazon might impose limitations. It will limit your ability to create new listings to some extent.
If you bring a unique product to the market, you ought to create new ASINs for them. It has a straightforward process. You just have to add your product to the seller dashboard of Amazon.
Upon doing that, Amazon will automatically assign you a unique ASIN. But you must remember that the sellers who will bring this product to Amazon after you are using the same ASIN for listing their products as well.
How is Amazon ASIN Crucial for Your Business?
As stated earlier, Amazon ASIN is important for the brand and the sellers. It is useful for tracking your inventory about the catalog data. Thus, indexing will be done over the product catalog pages for customers to search and browse.
When you are a new seller, listing the product with an ASIN will help your product appear in the search results. Your target audience will find your products, and this will help you score good profits. It will ease the mind of shoppers when they are searching for a specific product.
But beyond this, your Amazon ASIN also protects you from competitors. There’s a specific brand gating program by Amazon that will restrict other sellers from selling similar products that you sell. Thus, your intellectual property will have Amazon’s protection.
You got to take part in it by seeking approval for the eligible product. You might have to submit specific patent or trademark information to get along with the further procedures.
You will have to send the list of specific ASINs that you want to get gated by Amazon. Create a support case for it. The benefit of enrolling yourself in this program is that your ASINs will get access to A+ content.
You will get to present vibrant descriptions, unique brand stories, text placements, and enhanced images.
As per Amazon, getting A+ content to the product pages will drive more traffic and increase sales if used effectively.
Thus, ASINs are crucial for establishing yourself as a recognized seller on Amazon. You need to spend some time at the start to set these things to ensure you get more sales in the long run.
Understanding the Difference Between ASIN Numbers and SKU
ASIN specifies the identifier number for a unique product over Amazon’s marketplace. In contrast, SKU is specified as the Stock Keeping Unit, which identifies some specific attributes of a product. SKU consists of product details such as color, size, specifications, and other such information.
So, theoretically, it means that there might be several SKUs for a single ASIN product. The sellers have the liberty to create their SKUs. But Amazon can also do it automatically when you create a new listing.
SKU numbers over Amazon are also made up of alphanumeric codes. They are also preferable for tracking the product for sales and inventory purposes.
The SKU will not be visible to other sellers. It will be accessible only through your Seller Central account. ASIN numbers are used for cataloging your product globally. And SKUs are completely seller specific.
Using ASIN to Look for Search-Worthy Keywords
ASINs are much more beneficial for sellers, enabling consumers to find their products over the site and conduct deep keyword research. This is the process where you can find new products that you should sell or identify the target competitors in the market.
There are dedicated ASIN keyword tools available online for you to get high-frequency keywords. You just have to input any ASIN number over the tool’s given section and click on the proceeding option.
Upon that, you will get ample results on specific ASINs, including keyword distribution, word frequency, and products that are frequently bought together with it.
The keywords you acquire will also help you with detailed information on them. You will get the monthly search volume, search trend, and other such attributes of the selected keywords. Narrow down the search results by using this information as a filter.
Now, you can use the keywords in the product description of your ASIN products, and Amazon will rank it up in the order. In this way, you will be able to acquire more sales in the long run.
Is Merging ASINs a Thing?
Yes, there’s a concept of merging ASINs, defined as fixing the mistake against Amazon’s policies. As stated earlier, Amazon doesn’t allow any seller to list their products with unique ASINs if there’s already the same product available on Amazon with an ASIN.
But, some of the sellers, either intentionally or accidentally, create a new ASIN for an existing product. If this happens, the traffic that one product must get is diluted among multiple pages. Moreover, the product description and the quality of the detail pages will send a wrong message to consumers about the product.
Therefore, the remedy to this mistake is that the seller will have to open a support case and raise a request to merge the ASINs. Thus, the problem will be solved!
Conclusion
This article gave you a detailed walkthrough of ASINs and how they are important and beneficial for both brands and sellers. You can create your own ASIN or use an existing one, depending on the product you are about to introduce to the Amazon market.
ASIN is not just an identification number but is a code that unlocks the true potential of your product in this marketplace. So, make sure you do your bit of assessment using or getting one. Ultimately, use it to protect your intellectual property through brand gating
