Junel Ayala is Seller Snap’s in-house content writer and authored today’s guest post on Tamebay, discussing how to increase your Amazon Buy Box win rate. Junel comes with experience in Ecommerce and enjoys researching and reporting on all things Amazon-related, including selling on Amazon and repricing.
Understanding Essential Buy Box Elements to Increase Your Amazon Buy Box Win Rate in 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic ushered an unprecedented growth in the ecommerce industry. Amidst the strict lockdowns and quarantine protocols, consumers worldwide turned to online retail stores like Amazon for consumer goods.
Amazon continues to dominate the ecommerce landscape in terms of sales and popularity. Such dominance could continue in 2022, as JPMorgan predicted that Amazon would overtake Walmart as the largest retailer in the United States.
For Amazon sellers to fully maximize their selling potential and to actively participate in the growth of Amazon, winning more Amazon Buy Box in 2022 is more crucial than ever. It is especially true when most Amazon sales come through the Buy Box.
What is the Amazon Buy Box?
When Amazon shoppers navigate through product detail pages, they are presented with information and buying options. Product images, product title, product rating, product price, and the “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” button are some of the prominent pieces of information that shoppers will immediately notice on product pages.
The portion of the product detail page where the “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” buttons are situated is of particular interest to sellers. This section of the page is known as the Amazon Buy Box, prime real estate for Amazon sellers.
Amazon sellers compete against other sellers to win a spot in the Buy Box. Sellers perceive it as an advantage when their listings are featured in the Buy Box. Hence, sellers are always looking for ways to improve their Buy Box win rate.
Essential Buy Box Elements Sellers Must Know
You will be amazed at the countless online suggestions when searching for tips on how to improve Buy Box win rate. Let’s go back to the fundamental elements Amazon suggests to sellers to prioritize before delving deeper into other suggestions found online.
Amazon Seller Central explicitly mentions the following as factors considered for the selection of Buy Box winner or Featured Offer:
- Eligibility
- Price
- Availability
- Delivery Speed
- Customer Service
It would be wise for sellers to fulfill first the eligibility requirements before optimizing the other aforementioned factors.
How To Increase Your Amazon Buy Box Win Rate
Check Your Eligibility
As previously mentioned, sellers should first secure their eligibility to win the Amazon Buy Box. Regardless of your effort in optimizing your listing, if you are not eligible to win the Buy Box, your effort will be futile.
According to Amazon, sellers already enrolled in the FBA program have automatic eligibility to win the Buy Box. Otherwise, sellers must suffice the following conditions:
- A professional selling account is a must for sellers. If you are registered under the Individual Amazon seller plan, you will need to upgrade your plan if you wish to win the Amazon Buy Box.
- Before upgrading your Amazon plan, ensure that you have decent seller performance for a higher chance of becoming Buy Box eligible. Late Shipment Rate, Cancellation Rate, and Order Defect Rate are some of the performance metrics examined to determine a seller’s eligibility for Buy Box placement.
- It is also a requirement among sellers to have sufficient order volume so that Amazon can accurately assess their performance.
Competitive Pricing
Even Amazon emphasizes that listing a product at the lowest price does not guarantee sellers to win the Buy Box. In order to increase your Buy Box win rate, you should aim not for the lowest price but rather for a competitive price.
To achieve a competitive edge in product pricing, many Amazon sellers use an Amazon repricer to help them adjust the listing price to a competitive level. In most cases, larger, more successful sellers employ an AI repricer for automatic price adjustments.
An AI repricer like Seller Snap will analyze all the price offers on a particular listing and make the necessary price changes to develop a competitive listing price. The AI algorithm will change the listing price based on price notifications, competitors’ behavior, and market conditions in their entirety.
Such sophisticated a repricing software can help you win the Amazon Buy Box without sacrificing your profit margin in the process.
Availability and Shipping
Effective inventory management and order fulfillment are other factors checked by Amazon for awarding the Buy Box. Since Amazon is known for its customer service, it will not feature sellers in its Buy Box who are known for late shipping and other fulfillment issues.
Similarly, sellers with inadequate or no current stock of a listed item cannot win the Amazon Buy Box. Sellers must always keep their inventory updated and ensure that stocks are available to avoid frustrating customers.
In addition, experienced sellers observed that the Buy Box algorithm favors FBA over FBM. It is safe to assume that the algorithm prefers Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) because of the quick order fulfillment or delivery speed, which coincidentally is one of the elements for winning the Amazon Buy Box.
Customer Experience
Amazon is known as a customer-centric company. More than competitive price and product availability, the tech-giant values customer service.
Amazon will not award the Buy Box to sellers whose performance is below their standard. Sellers should take time to examine specific seller metrics, including:
- Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate
- Late Shipment Rate
- Order Defect Rate (ODR)
The Order Defect Rate consists of three different metrics, including (i) Negative Feedback, (ii) A-to-z Guarantee claims, (iii) Chargeback claims. The ODR is measured based on the combination of the said metrics, and sellers must target less than 1% Order Defect Rate.
The pre-fulfillment cancellation refers to the cancellations initiated by the sellers before shipment confirmation. Sellers must strive to obtain less than 2.5% pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate for increased Buy Box win rate.
Furthermore, Amazon does not tolerate sellers constantly shipping orders late; it sees it as a sign of poor business management. Hence, sellers must strive to obtain a Late Shipment Rate under 4%.
Adherence to the Fundamental Elements
Winning the Amazon Buy Box is vital for the success of your Amazon business. Increasing your Buy Box win rate can make a significant difference between you making a sale or others making it instead of you.
If you are overwhelmed with the numerous tips you see online on how to win more Amazon Buy Box, it would be best to implement a back-to-basics approach. Try to re-examine the essential elements of the Buy Box that Amazon highlights, and evaluate which aspect requires more improvement.
Start by checking your eligibility to win the Amazon Buy Box. Thereafter, start developing a competitive pricing strategy along with excellent customer service. Try to familiarize yourself with seller metrics and find ways to optimize various aspects of your business to attain an outstanding and consistent seller performance.
To further bolster your Amazon campaign, you can use the seller tools Amazon provides on their platform or utilize third-party Amazon seller tools as an alternative.
