What if I told you that 82% of sales on the Amazon platform happened within the buy box? Well, according to research this is the case. If you’re selling products that other sellers are also selling, you’ll need to win the buy box to win a significant amount of sales. For many, because of this high competition, It is not an easy feat to be included in Amazon’s Buy Box. Even for sellers that are sell their own products on their unique ASINs, understanding the buy box and how it works is the first step to getting that elusive real estate on the Amazon platform.
What Is The Amazon Buy Box
The Amazon buy box is simply the space on the right side of the Amazon detail page. It contains the shipping information you need about a certain product plus “add to cart” and the one-click buy now button. Due to the many sellers using the Amazon platform, and that includes Amazon, getting a space on the Amazon buy box is not always easy, due to the fact that it has its own requirements.
Amazon Buy Box Criteria
Several factors are considered in who wins the buy box. Here are three things that you should keep in mind to give your product a chance to appear in the buy box section of Amazon.
- Seller Ratings – seller rating is important not only as a factor to appear on the buy box section but as a seller overall. Seller rating gives the buyer an initial impression of you being the product seller. Most of the time it’s an extremely important factor when deciding to purchase. Amazon knows this, which is why Seller rating is also an important factor to consider on whether or not to include your product in the buy box section.
- Shipping Speed & Method – Amazon favors sellers that provide quick shipping. Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) is also heavily favored over FBM (fulfilled by the merchant) offers. Indirectly, fast shipping can also affect your reputation, you have a higher chance of getting a good review quickly if your shipping game is on point. We find that new sellers who sell products FBM don’t win the buy box, even when they are the only seller selling the product.
- Competitive Price – Pricing is a big factor in who wins the buy box. A lower price will be a big advantage. For brands with MAP agreements, this should put everyone on an even playing field if all the sellers adhere to MAP. Offering a competitive price means you also include the shipping fee into the calculation. Many are lowering the prices of their products without taking into account the shipping fee. This mistake causes them to lose out to other sellers who include the shipping fee when lowering prices to make their product more competitive. Pricing can also cause you to lose the buy box when you’re not competing with other sellers for the buy box.
- Mind your inventory – it is best to always ensure that your inventory is at a healthy level. Always replenish fast selling products and remove, if not, lessen products that don’t sell too well. A good rule of thumb is to have a healthy IPI Score.
- New Items Only – the buy box only favors items that are new. Used items that are being sold are not eligible for the buy box.
What if I’m Not Competing With Other Sellers For The Buy Box?
Often sellers will mistakenly think that winning the buy box is not a concern if you’re the only seller who is selling your products. This is absolutely not the case. You still have to fulfill certain minimum requirements, in Amazon’s eyes, to win the buy box for your own products. If your products show up as “available from other sellers” when you view your product listing, then no seller on that listing is winning the buy box. The situation is different and the factors you have to consider are a bit different than described in this article. We’ll write another article about that topic specifically. You can also talk to Five Star Commerce consultants about some of the specifics of your situation and they can provide guidance.
If you’re seeing large fluctuations in sales or ad spend, often it’s related to winning the buy box against other sellers. If you’re not the seller winning the buy box, you’re typically not getting sales. The better you can understand and work in a way to increase your buy box percentage, you’ll be rewarded with higher and higher sales.