Success in the Amazon industry requires a good understanding of the Amazon Buy Box (what is the Amazon Buy Box), coupled with an effort on learning new approaches to win the Buy Box. That is why top Amazon sellers utilize the best Amazon seller tools and strategies to help them win more Amazon Buy Box.
Winning more Amazon Buy Box in 2022 is the goal of most sellers, especially since 90% of Amazon sales go to Buy Box holders. However, for some Amazon sellers, this goal may be unattainable due to the lack of technical knowledge and proper information on how to improve their Buy Box win rate.
In order to help you start your new year right, here are some concepts, tips, and suggestions on how to get more Amazon Buy Box this 2022 to potentially increase your sales conversion.
To give you an overview of this article, we have outlined the contents concerning the Amazon Buy Box:
Catalog
- Amazon Buy Box: The What and Where
- The Buy Box Purpose & Dynamics
- In Brief: Amazon Buy Box Eligibility
- Primary Factors Influencing Buy Box Win Rate
- Contributory Elements to Winning More Buy Box
- Amazon Buy Box and Repricing: A Closer Look
- Common Misconceptions About the Amazon Buy Box
- Amazon Buy Box Listing Suppression
- Amazon Seller Tools for Winning More Buy Box
- The Secret Revealed
Amazon Buy Box: The What and Where
Understanding what an Amazon Buy Box is, is fundamental for a successful Amazon reseller business. To refresh the understanding of both newbie and experienced Amazon sellers, the Buy Box is simply the portion of the product detail page where customers can add items to cart (Add to Cart) or immediately buy them by clicking the “Buy Now” button.
Amazon.com: An screenshot (cropped) of Amazon product listing; Retrieved: Dec. 24, 2020, From https://amzn.to/34XBgkv
In relation to the Buy Box, such a product detail page feature allows Amazon shoppers to make purchases even without having to consider who the seller is, be it Amazon or a third-party seller.
The majority of Amazon shoppers do not bother scrolling down the product detail page to see what other competitors are offering for a particular listing. Instead, shoppers simply go with the Amazon Buy Box recommendation and proceed with their purchase. Thus, leveling the playing field by allowing third-party merchants and small businesses to compete against big brands and companies.
The Buy Box Purpose & Dynamics
Your familiarity with what is Amazon Buy Box is just the start of the learning process, you also need to understand its dynamics. One of the secrets to winning more Amazon Buy Box in 2022 is to understand how the Buy Box actually works.
As compared to other marketplaces and platforms, the Amazon Buy Box is relatively complex. With the Amazon algorithm, a number of variables are being considered in order to win the coveted Buy Box. Factors for Buy Box consideration will be discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.
Since Amazon prides itself on great customer service, it is not surprising that the tech giant also greatly values customer satisfaction. For that matter, not all Amazon sellers are awarded the Buy Box spot to avoid delivering a poor customer experience.
In Brief: Amazon Buy Box Eligibility
Understanding what is Amazon Buy Box, its purpose, and how it works is useless if you are not Buy Box eligible. Not all Amazon sellers are eligible for the Amazon Buy Box, there are certain requirements to be met for a seller to become Buy Box eligible
If you wish to become Amazon Buy Box eligible this 2022, especially for newbie sellers, you will need to become an Amazon FBA seller. Sellers enrolled in the FBA program will automatically be eligible for the Buy Box.
Alternatively, if you opt not to become an FBA seller, you may still be eligible for the Buy Box once you have met these three main requirements.
- The Amazon seller must have a professional seller account. Take note that upgrading to the professional account will require a $39.99 monthly fee.
- The Amazon seller must maintain order volume. Having maintained order volume allows Amazon to see you as a seller capable of providing the level of service on par with Amazon standards.
- The Amazon seller must also have close to zero cancellation, order defects, or late shipment rates. These elements are scrutinized by Amazon to see how well you perform in relation to purchasing history.
Primary Factors Influencing Buy Box Win Rate
In order to select the best sellers to complement buyers’ shopping experience, the Amazon algorithm takes into consideration factors for awarding the Amazon Buy Box. Hence, Buy Box rotation occurs to fulfill such a goal of connecting shoppers with the best Amazon sellers.
Product Price
One of the crucial factors the Amazon algorithm considers for choosing the Buy Box winner is of course the product price. Since Amazon likes to be viewed as an affordable destination for online shopping and a customer-centric company, it gives importance to the listing price.
Top Amazon sellers suggest vigilance in monitoring the Amazon marketplace for any price changes to aptly adjust the price. Most sellers use an Amazon repricer to make strategic price changes automatically to ensure that they stay competitive on the listing. Seller Snap’s algorithmic repricer will achieve this for you. Thus, increasing the chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box in 2022.
Fulfillment Method
The seller’s fulfillment method of choice considerably influences the Amazon Buy Box win rate. Although not explicitly required by Amazon, it has been observed that Amazon FBA sellers are highly favored by the Amazon algorithm to win the Buy Box.
Amazon favors FBA because such a program allows quick order fulfillment, which is also one of the key factors for winning the Buy Box. Consequently, a quick turnaround time also results in customer satisfaction.
Customer Feedback
The growth and success of Amazon are hinged on their customer obsession. Since they are highly invested in customer experience, it is no surprise that customer feedback is among the key factors for winning the Buy Box.
Knowing what is Amazon Buy Box is not enough. If you wish to win more Amazon Buy Box this 2022, you should improve your feedback rating score. If you want to know more about Amazon feedback improvement you may CLICK HERE!
Contributory Elements to Winning More Buy Box
Apart from the primary factors for consideration in winning the Buy Box, sellers should also take into account other contributory elements for winning more Buy Box. If you wish to win more or maintain your Buy Box win rate, here are some of the things you should do.
Provide Excellent Service: By providing top-notch customer service, be it for an initial query or post-sales assistance, sellers will increase the chance of getting positive feedback, which in turn leads to improvement of the feedback score.
Offer Free Shipping: Another supplementary factor to help you win more Buy Box this 2022 is to offer fast and free shipping to Amazon shoppers. By enrolling in Amazon FBA or Seller Fulfilled Prime, you can offer added value to shoppers.
Manage Inventory Well: Inventory is critical in any retail and sales-related industry, which is why Amazon sellers should always see to it that they never run out of stock. For increased Buy Box win rate, Amazon inventory must always be updated. Sellers should prepare to restock items that are quick to sell. With the help of an inventory management tool, this can be done easily.
Establish Your Seller Reputation: As frequently mentioned, Amazon gives preference to sellers in good standing. That is why it is best to establish your reputation in order to be considered for the Buy Box. To do so, you will have to request feedback and reviews from customers to keep your Amazon seller reputation healthy.
Secure a Healthy Amazon Account: Not known to most sellers, Amazon metrics such as Cancellation Rate, Refund Rate, Late Shipment Rate, Order Defect Rate, and Valid Tracking Rate are contributory to determining the Buy Box winner. Such rates are important for Amazon for they indicate how well you are performing as a third-party seller.
Introduce a Pricing Strategy: Competitive pricing is critical in winning the Buy Box. For that matter, a pricing strategy should be developed. To help you create a dynamic pricing strategy, the use of an Amazon repricer is beneficial. With an Amazon repricer, creating a pricing strategy will be much easier, especially with an automatic repricer capable of adjusting according to the marketplace situation.
Amazon Buy Box and Repricing: A Closer Look
Inexperienced Amazon sellers’ go-to method when it comes to pricing is to simply lower their product price beyond what the competition can offer. However, such a method does not always translate into profit.
More than just knowing what is the Amazon Buy Box, sellers should incorporate the use of a repricer into their pricing strategy to increase the chances of winning more of the Buy Box in 2022. There are three types of repricers that you can use for your Amazon business.
1. Manual Repricing: As its name would suggest, manual repricing means manually inputting and updating listing price based on market changes, including competitors’ pricing. However, an increase in SKUs will make manual repricing a laborious, if not impossible task.
2. Rule-Based Repricing: An alternative to manual repricing is rule-based repricing. True to its name, this type of repricing strategy allows Amazon sellers to set up rules and conditions depending on specific scenarios.
Sellers may choose to set rules for the repricer to respond based on competitor price, or other factors such as time of day, or seasonality. Worth noting that established repricing rules will not directly interfere with one another, but they will rather work together to deliver price optimization, depending on the repricer that you chose.
3. Algorithmic Repricing: Algorithmic repricing or otherwise known as automatic repricing finds the best price over time by evaluating certain market conditions and your competitor’s pricing strategy. With the help of an algorithmic repricer, sellers can easily create a dynamic repricing strategy.
This type of repricing approach makes use of algorithms to automate repricing for better price optimization. The algorithmic repricer considers numerous variables, including but not limited to competitors’ behavior and their market approach, current marketplace situation, and price change notification via Amazon API.
When using an algorithmic repricer especially one based on AI, sellers can be more hands-free when it comes to repricing because the algorithm is self-learning. Hence, making it an ideal repricer for Amazon sellers who wanted to automate the repricing process as much as possible.
Common Misconceptions About the Amazon Buy Box
There are many misconceptions about the Amazon Buy Box. The main culprit for this confusion is the lack of proper knowledge of what is Amazon Buy Box. Hence, it is crucial to grasp what the Amazon Buy Box is and the essential elements to improve your Amazon business.
Here are some of the common misunderstandings about the Amazon Buy Box.
Non Buy Box Sharing: This is a common misconception among newbie sellers. It stems from the fact that Amazon itself also wins the Buy Box for their own listed products. However, it is inaccurate to think that Amazon favors itself more than third-party merchants and in most scenarios, they share the Buy Box with other sellers.
Buy Box Eligibility Switch: Some sellers believe that they themselves can decide when to become Buy Box eligible. As discussed above, Amazon has its own criteria for a seller to become Buy Box eligible, there is no magic switch that sellers can use to expedite eligibility.
Buy Box Exclusivity: There is no such thing as Amazon Buy Box exclusivity. Amazon allows other merchants to appear in the Buy Box. Hence, there is what we call Buy Box sharing.
Lowest Price Myth: Since price is one of the factors for winning the Buy Box, some sellers believe that sticking to the lowest price will lead to a consistent Buy Box win. However, sellers should realize that the Buy Box algorithm considers not just the product price, but also other factors which were discussed above.
Amazon Buy Box Listing Suppression
Since Amazon is quite strict with its policy, sellers should not be complacent when it comes to winning the Buy Box. Although sellers have previously won Buy Box, this does not guarantee that Amazon may not resort to Buy Box suppression.
Buy Box suppression means that Amazon has removed the entire listing from the Buy Box, mainly due to the current selling price being much higher than the RRP.
Another reason that some sellers experience a suppressed Buy Box is that they were unable to maintain Buy Box eligibility standards set by Amazon. Factors for ineligibility may include poor customer reviews, seller metrics drop, incomplete or inferior listing optimization, and not meeting the sales volume over a given timeframe.
In order to keep winning the Amazon Buy Box, sellers should always see to it that the customer-centric spirit of Amazon is observed all the time. This can be done by providing quality products and services to Amazon shoppers at a reasonable price, as well as strictly observing marketplace guidelines.
Amazon Seller Tools for Winning More Buy Box
To maintain your Buy Box win rate or even increase it, it is recommended that you utilize internal and external Amazon seller tools. Some of these reliable Amazon seller tools include but not limited to:
- Amazon Repricers
- Keyword Research Tool
- Amazon FBA Calculator
- Inventory Management Tool
- Feedback and Reviews Tool
- Product Research Tool
- Seller Analytics
If you wish to stay on top of your competition, using Amazon seller tools will definitely boost your Amazon store performance. Thus, leading to increased store engagement and the Buy Box win rate.
The Secret Revealed
The ability to adjust your strategy, especially when it comes to winning the Amazon Buy Box is of paramount importance. That is why you should be flexible enough to adjust to the industry changes and integrate necessary Amazon seller tools to bolster your Amazon business in 2022.
