How to Win the Amazon Buy Box

 

How to Win the Amazon Buy Box

A seller can only compete for the Buy Box if he or she meets the below criteria:

1. Has an Amazon Professional Seller account.

2. Is “Buy Box-eligible,” a status awarded to experienced sellers who have spent time selling on the Amazon platform and possess high levels of performance. This status was formally known as Featured Merchant and was visible to anyone. Any buyer or seller could see who was a Featured Merchant by looking at the Offer Listing Page for a particular product. Today, this information is only disclosed to the seller themselves in their Seller Central account.

3. Sell new items rather than second-hand. There is a separate Buy Box for used items.

4. Has available stock of the item competing for the Buy Box. Backordered items can now win the Buy Box, but the algorithm favors sellers that constantly have adequate inventory.

How to Check Buy Box Eligibility:

• Click on the Inventory tab in Amazon Seller Central and select Manage Inventory.
• Click on the Preferences tab.
• In the Column Display section, locate the field for Buy Box Eligible.
• Select Show When Available from the drop-down menu.
• Look at the Buy Box Eligible column for a particular SKU. If the seller is eligible, it will say yes.

Note: the seller may see that they are eligible to win the Buy Box for some products but not for others.

New sellers eager to acquire Buy Box eligibility can speed up the process by selling some items through Amazon’s own fulfillment services (FBA). Selling even a small number of popular products at a competitive price through Amazon can enable the seller to receive Buy Box Eligible status even on those items not Fulfilled By Amazon.

If a seller believes they have met all the required criteria and has not been awarded Buy Box Eligible status, they can contact Amazon seller support directly to request they be considered for this status.

The Variables that Affect the Buy Box

Once a seller has the ability to compete for the Buy Box, he or she has to learn exactly how to win it. We know that Amazon’s algorithm compares multiple variables of each offering to determine which gives the best overall value to the customer. The weights assigned to each variable can change on a product-by-product or a category-by-category basis, so even though a seller could be losing to a competitor on one product, the same seller could be beating that same competitor on another unrelated product.

There are many variables that Amazon takes into account, which are outlined below. The key is to invest your resources in the ones that make a bigger impact on the Buy Box.

Fulfillment Method:

Sellers who choose FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) or SFP (Seller-Fulfilled Prime) are usually at an advantage to those who sell FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant), with all other variables being equal.

Landed Price:

This is the total amount that the product is sold for on Amazon. The lower the seller’s performance metrics are compared to other sellers, the lower they’ll need to lower their price to try to win the Buy Box. On the other hand, if their metrics are high, they could raise their price and still win.

Shipping Time:

The quicker you ship, the better off you are.

Availability:

Backordered items can be featured in the Buy Box, but items that are immediately fulfillable are favored by Amazon’s algorithm so avoiding backorders should be a priority for all sellers.

Order Defect Rate:

This is a combination of the Negative Feedback Rate, the A-to-Z Guarantee Claim Rate, and the Service Chargeback Rate.

Valid Tracking Rate:

This is the percentage of deliveries sent with full tracking information.

Late Shipment Rate:

This is the number of orders shipped later than the expected ship date.

On-Time Delivery:

This is the percentage of orders that were delivered on time.

Feedback Score:

How well people have rated you (especially recently) makes a difference.

Customer Response Time:

How quickly do you respond to customers? If you take too much time, it will negatively impact your chances of winning the Buy Box.

Feedback Count:

This is how many people have given you feedback. Obviously the more customers, the better.

Inventory Depth and Sales Volume:

Having enough inventory consistently will put you in a better position than if you have big fluctuations in inventory.

Cancellation and Refund Rate:

If you cancel on a customer who has made an order too often, it could have a negative impact on your seller performance.

Software Tools That Can Enable Buy Box Optimization

Amazon’s highly sought after Buy Box is the most attractive piece of online marketplace real estate. Aiming to win this center stage position can sometimes pose a bit of a challenge, but there are multiple forms of Amazon Buy Box software that can help sellers succeed.

Feedback Tools

Good feedback is a very important factor in winning the Buy Box, and the more recent the feedback, the greater its impact. For this reason, it’s important for sellers to always strive for quality customer service, prompt resolution to any issues, and professionalism.

Trying to encourage your customers to give you feedback about their buying experience at all is difficult. The vast majority of customers simply don’t take the time to do it.

FeedbackGenius and FeedbackFive are two tools that aid sellers in the feedback process. They send automatic and customized reminders to customers and allow for monitoring of negative feedback. This saves the seller time, avoids unnecessary hassle, and hopefully improves all of the feedback-related customer metrics.

Shipping Tools

Shipping time has a high impact on the Buy Box, and is even more crucial for time-sensitive products and perishable goods. Delivering your products promptly and efficiently is therefore crucial to online business success.

Whether you use FBA, FBM, or SFP, there are companies out there who can help you optimize the shipping process.

ShipWorks connects to your seller account and downloads each order. It then creates shipping labels, processes invoices, manages customer tracking information, and updates the online status of each order. ShipStation is a similar company, enabling sellers to create personalized packing slips as well as branded labels.

How Does Feedvisor Help Win the Buy Box?

In order to stand out on Amazon’s crowded and hyper-competitive marketplace, sellers need to be constantly dialed in to the latest policies, market trends, and advertising mediums. Additionally, sellers need to have a per-item pricing strategy in order to make sure that they don’t lose money where they could be making it. Price heavily impacts the Buy Box, and therefore getting to the right price is crucial.

With that, Feedvisor offers AI-based pricing technology for Amazon sellers and brands. Essentially, the tool automatically changes sellers’ product prices according to the dynamic and constant changes in the market. Through self-learning algorithms that continuously improve and learn from each individual situation, the algorithms will find the best prices for your products, helping you maximize sales and overall profits without running the risk of human error.