What is the Amazon Buy Box and how to get it

What is the Amazon Buy Box?

First of all, an essential clarification is necessary: Amazon presents numerous differences compared to other marketplaces, such as eBay. While on the latter platform it is possible to create different listings for the same product, Amazon has decided to group all sellers selling the same product into a single page, avoiding duplicates. On Amazon, in fact, a product ID ( EAN code, ASIN, UPC etc.) corresponds to one and only one listing. There are mainly 3 reasons for this choice (the third is the most important):

1. To improve the customer experience and show the best offer for each product. In fact, searching for a product on a platform like eBay will show several advertisers offering the same item under different conditions. Identifying the best seller might not be a simple task, as each ad differs by:

• Price;

• Number of seller feedbacks;

• Seller feedback score;

• Shipping cost;

• Shipping times;

• Other characteristics such as the "top reliability" badge, listing format (auction or buy it now) and much more.

If you have clear ideas about the product to purchase and the number of advertisers is not too high, this research could be time-consuming but not particularly complicated. If, on the contrary, you are still undecided on the model or brand of product to buy and/or the number of advertisers is very high, identifying the best offer could be complicated if not impossible and, sometimes, discourage the user from purchasing.

Amazon, as mentioned, decided to unite all advertisers in a single page, directly showing the seller that proposes the best conditions. Other sellers can be found by clicking on the text next to the price, where the marketplace indicates the number of advertisers who are marketing the item.

Clicking on "new" will open a screen where the offers of all sellers are listed.

2. To contain phenomena such as dropshipping as much as possible. Price differences (sometimes rather marked) from sellers offering the same product have fueled phenomena like dropshipping. It is not uncommon for sellers who enjoy better visibility to propose the same product at higher prices. These sellers, sometimes, are not actually in possession of the item but, as soon as a user completes the order, they will purchase the product from whoever offers it at a lower price, and then ship it to their own buyer. This is a simplified explanation of the phenomenon, but sufficient to understand another reason why Amazon thought of the Buy Box. With this mechanism, in fact, it will be practically impossible for sellers to use this business model.

3. To keep prices as low as possible. Thanks to the Buy Box mechanism, in fact, retailers must almost always keep the absolute lowest price if they hope to sell any units. This very often triggers a downward price war, with sellers offering the item even at a price that generates a negative margin just to get rid of excess stock in their warehouses or to obtain the first sales. This dynamic, however, only plays into the hands of Amazon and the customers. The former can boast of having the absolute lowest prices, while the latter are often able to conclude good deals by purchasing on the marketplace.

At this point, it should be quite simple to understand why obtaining the Buy Box is so important. Users almost always trust Amazon's choice in selecting the best seller and, very often, are not even aware that they have the option to choose between different sellers. In the final stage of the order, in fact, the product is generally added to the cart without even evaluating the other purchase proposals. In these cases, Amazon will add the item from the seller who is winning the Buy Box to the cart. Being the first choice, therefore, is essential to increase sales on Amazon.

How to win the Buy Box on Amazon

After explaining what the Amazon Buy Box consists of, let's try to list the factors that Amazon takes into consideration to determine who to assign the position of best seller to. We try to list the various factors based on importance, even if it is not known exactly how much each of them actually weighs.

Note: The Buy Box is decided by an algorithm and can change several times during the same day.

Subscribe to the YouTube channel to stay updated!

1. Price

It is almost certain that the total price (product cost + shipping + taxes) is the most important factor for obtaining the Buy Box. One of Amazon's main objectives is to be the marketplace with the lowest prices, a central message also in various television commercials by the company itself. Ensuring you have the cheapest rate, often by even a single cent, can exponentially increase the chances of obtaining the Buy Box. Be careful though, the costs of selling on Amazon can be quite high and, before competing excessively on price, an accurate profitability analysis of your products must be carried out.

2. Logistics

In order of importance, the second point certainly concerns the speed and quality of your shipments. In fact, delivery efficiency has been one of the key points for the rise of the e-commerce giant. Our advice is to take advantage of Amazon FBA, the logistics service offered by Amazon. In fact, with FBA and products will get the Prime logo, as well as unparalleled costs and delivery services. Using Amazon FBA can provide a big boost to obtaining the Buy Box.

3. Inventory

Another extremely important factor to consider is the quantity of products available; for Amazon, a seller's reliability is also based on this. Before investing in promotion to increase sales, careful planning is necessary to avoid running out of stock, a behavior decidedly disliked by the Amazon algorithm. The longer the restocking times, the more careful the planning must be.

4. Seller Feedback

Seller feedback, which we discussed in more detail in this article, is another element highly considered by Amazon's algorithm. It refers solely to the quality of shipping and customer service. A higher number and/or a higher score will give you the edge over a competitor under equal conditions.

5. Efficiency

In addition to the shipping efficiency mentioned in point 2), Amazon assigns each seller a real score based on their performance, which can be consulted in the "Account Health" section of your Seller Central.

All the criteria listed on the page are important for obtaining the Buy Box, but 3 of them certainly take on greater importance: the order defect rate, the pre-fulfillment cancel rate and the late shipment rate .

Specifically, the metrics just mentioned have limits to be respected:

• The order defect rate must remain below 1%;

• The pre-fulfillment cancel rate must be <2.5%;

• Finally, the late shipment rate must not exceed 4%.

6. Customer Service

Lastly, customer assistance can also be a determining factor for winning the Buy Box. Most likely, among the 6 points listed, it is the least relevant, but should not be underestimated. Customers can ask the most diverse questions: shipping status, product information, invoice request, return request and much more. Questions can be asked at any time of the day or night, during weekends and holidays. Amazon asks to respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours of receiving the message, although the customer service score will not receive penalties if you respond between 24 and 48 hours. In any case, also to increase customer satisfaction, we recommend responding as soon as possible with a tone that is always cordial and helpful.

Conclusions

The Amazon Buy Box is a concept often heard of but for which there is still not total clarity. Understanding and obtaining it, however, can be decisive for making your business take off and increasing your sales on Amazon.

For more information or to understand how to optimize your account and increase sales on Amazon contact us without obligation, otherwise: