Amazon manages more in-house brands than you think

Amazon over the years has gathered a wealth of shopping information from its customers. Unsurprisingly so, the company has taken that data and developed a number of “house brands” like Amazon Basics to sell products directly to consumers.

The strategy has allowed Amazon to effectively eliminate the middleman and put more money in its pocket. What you may not know, however, is that Amazon operates far more in-house brands than it initially lets on.

Quartz recently skimmed more than 800 trademarks applied for by or awarded to Amazon. The publication found 19 brands owned by Amazon that sell products or have product pages on the e-commerce giant’s site.

Some of the brands have previously been identified as belonging to Amazon – Franklin & Freeman, James & Erin, Lark & Ro and Single Cow Burger, to name a few – but others aren’t readily known to be owned by the company.

The publication also identified several other brands owned by Amazon that don’t yet have products online such as Bloom Street, Find, GT Prime, Single and Sweatermen and even more still that only sell products on Amazon and list the same address for an incorporation company in Delaware.

When probed for comment, a spokesperson told the site that Amazon has a range of brands including Amazon Basics, Happy Belly, Mama Bear, Pinzon, Presto!, Wickedly Prime, Goodthreads, Amazon Essentials, Mae, Ella Moon, Buttoned Down, The Fix and Lark & Ro but declined to comment further.

So, what’s the reasoning for operating so many brands? Mark DiMassimo, a direct-economy expert and the CEO of New York-based advertising agency DiMassimo Goldstein, suggests to Quartz that the Amazon brand can only stretch so far.

“Can you imagine anyone ever saying, ‘oh lord this Amazon personal lubricant is just so sexy?'” DiMassimo asked. “There are limits to the Amazon brand that Amazon would be wise not to cross.” Good point.