For many products on Amazon, there are multiple businesses selling it. Given that 80% of the sales on the marketplace takes place through the Buy Box, it becomes crucial for sellers to win it for higher conversions. A low Buy Box percentage or absence of it means that there is a higher opportunity for other sellers to eat into a pie of your sales. While Amazon doesn’t have an exact formula, there are a range of factors that influence the Buy Box and in turn the purchase decision.
In this article, we discuss how you can increase your chances to win the Amazon Buy Box, secure the conversion rate, and ultimately boost your sales potential:
Price Competitiveness
Non-competitive pricing can lead to a decline in sales and affect your chances of winning the Buy Box. While deciding product prices on Amazon, keep a close check on not just the competitor’s price, but also your product’s price on other platforms. Amazon regularly monitors price competitiveness to ensure customers receive the best value. Tracking product prices and maintaining competitive pricing on and off Amazon thus becomes extremely critical.
In the case of one of our clients, the overall Buy Box percentage rose from 68% to 90% by revisiting the pricing strategy of multiple products. In addition to fixing the product’s price, the shipping cost for seller fulfilled products was also reduced to make the final price competitive.
Shipping Performance
The amount of time a product takes to reach the customer plays a pivotal role for not just customers, but also the Amazon Buy Box. This is especially true for time-critical products like gifts and perishable goods. In the case of self-fulfillment methods, it is crucial to establish an efficient shipping and delivery mechanism to ensure that the shipping duration is within the 5-day bracket.
Along with shipping duration, sellers must also maintain a high on-time delivery rate and a low late shipping rate. They must also send packages with correct tracking information. A combination of these parameters determines the seller’s shipping performance. High shipping performance increases your chances of winning the Buy Box. For sellers who have opted for FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), the end-to-end shipping process and performance is handled by Amazon.
Customer Service Performance
Delivering well-manufactured products, offering prompt responses, and garnering high ratings can together ensure high customer service performance. On the other hand, a high pre-fulfillment cancellation rate and high order defect rate can negatively impact your account health and chances of winning the Buy Box. Furthermore, in the case of negative feedback, it is even more crucial to respond in a prompt and timely manner. Responding within 24 hours for negative feedback or marking ‘no response needed’ for positive ones is the primary step every seller must undertake. If more than 10% of the messages are responded after 24 hours, it can adversely impact your overall ratings. More so, high feedback count and rating can strengthen your odds of being the Buy Box winner.
Effective Inventory Management
Adequate inventory to meet the current demand is an important aspect considered by Amazon to assign the Buy Box to a given seller. Therefore, sellers with effective inventory planning, consistent sales, and adequate stock history gain a higher Buy Box share. It is imperative to plan the inventory well in advance, especially in the case of products that are more seasonal in nature. For example, products like sweaters that experience high sales velocity in the winter season must be planned efficiently to meet the rise in demand.
If the product is out of stock, the Buy Box is automatically lost and rotated to the next bestseller. This is, however, not applicable to back-ordered products wherein the customer is well-aware that the product is not available and will be delivered at a later date. Additionally, sellers that opt for FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) and SFP (Seller Fulfilled Prime) have a much higher chance of winning the Buy Box.
In conclusion, closely monitoring and promptly maintaining competitive pricing, efficient shipping and delivery mechanisms, high customer satisfaction rate, and proper inventory planning is the key to winning the most rewarding Amazon Buy Box. It ensures a seamless customer experience, which in turn leads to a higher conversion rate and an increase in sales.
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