Holy Private Labels Batman! Pinzon is not alone....

Last week, we blogged about the Amazon private label - Pinzon.  Since then several folks have pointed out that Amazon has many other private label brands with the most known being Strathwood which has patio furniture.  You can see the Strathwood store here on Amazon where there are about 350 items for sale. 

One data point is an anomaly, two is a trend and three could point to a micro-private-label brand strategy.  What if Amazon has a bunch of these flying under the radar?  Well, we did some more digging and found several more brands that Amazon has registered trademarks for (thanks USPTO!) that are a little bit more 'stealthy' and I've never seen covered before.

First it took a while to figure this out because the marks are not registered to Amazon but to a subsidiary called "Amazon Technologies, Inc." that uses a Reno, NV address. For example, this is what the Strathwood entry looks like in the trademark DB:

There are many in here that don't make sense or are not in use as private labels.  For example, Amazon seems to hold a trademark on "Tool Crib of the North", but there is no product with that name on Amazon and there's this company that sells under that name = and is part of "Acme Tool" - Hmmmm. Yet, Amazon does have a micro-site at toolcrib.amazon.com, but no private label as best I can find.  There are some that are sub-companies that I didn't know about like createspace.com - a lulu.com competitor I didn't know that Amazon had (but could have easily overlooked as I don't follow that part of the World very closely).  There are also some random Amazon Blogs I didn't know about like Wag Reflex.

All that being said, we did find several other private labels:

Denali Tools:

 

-Amazon seems to have about 50 private label tool/home improvement items from a private label called Denali. This private label takes its name from Mount McKinley aka "the Great one" that is the heart of Denali National park in Alaska.  I'm no geography guru, but seems pretty darn far way from the Amazon - must be a favorite adventure spot for Bezos or at least a tool buyer.

Pike Street - This one seems to have a little overlap with Pinzon in the Home and Garden category. Pike Street is clearly a tip of the hat to the local Seattle tourist destination AND original home of Starbucks I must add.  Pike Street offers about 150 items in the bedding and bath category.

This Pike Street "Softie"looks like it is set to take on the world-famous Snuggie (!  If they had Bezos in one reading his Kindle I'd be all over this puppy, but alas this old-school lady is doing some kind of crossword.

So to recap the Amazon private labels that we have found so far.

1. Pinzon - 600 home and garden items (some bed and bath that overlaps with Pike)
2. Strathwood -  350 furniture items
3. Dinali -  50 tools
4. Pike Street -  150 bedding/bath items (and Softie!)

So that's four brands with about 1200 different products currently being offered via private label , that we know about.  We'll keep an eye on this trend on a regular basis and by all means let us know if you think you've found another 'under the radar' Amazon private label brand.

SeekingAlpha disclosure - I am long Amazon, Google and eBay is an investor in ChannelAdvisor

Comments

[Rick]

I find this very interesting but not sure I can mold this into a threat against other independent sellers..... yet. Maybe it is the long term successfully built private label that would be more of a threat???

[Scot Wingo]

Hey Rick,

I don't think there is an impact to sellers on Amazon right now, but it's something to be very aware of.

Scot

[David]

Amazon bought Tool Crib of the North in 1999, so they could get into the tool business. When they bought this they were able to sell Dewalt power tools, Milwaukee, etc.... It was their answer to the tool manufacturers not opening up Amazon because they do not have a brick & mortar storefront. So they bought one.

[Scot Wingo]

Hey David,

Wow, that's interesting, I didn't know that. So Amazon owns and operates 4 tool stores in North Dakota? I wonder what that does to their tax nexus.