If you’re a seller on Amazon, you’ll know the importance of winning the Buy Box. We’ve put together seven quick tips to help you grab your share of the Amazon Buy Box and increase your sales and profits.
1. Become Buy Box Eligible
It’s simple: although not all sellers who’ve achieved Buy Box Eligibility (previously Featured Merchant) status will win a Buy Box, those sellers who are not Buy Box Eligible are not eligible to win a Buy Box. To get there, you need to have been selling for at least three to six months (the timeline depends on which category you sell in) and have a better-than-average seller rating.
2. Have Star-Level Metrics in Your Seller Central Account
Let’s say you’ve got a seller rating above 90% and really good numbers in all the categories. But you still haven’t won a Buy Box. Why’s that? It could very well be because there’s a seller you’re competing with you has better numbers in each category. Amazon uses an algorithm in determining which sellers get a Buy Box, which means it follows certain rules. And one of those criteria is how good the buyer experience is — which reflects on how good you are at making that experience good.
3. Using a Repricer
Know how we just talked about Amazon’s Buy Box algorithm being rules-based? Well, repricers are the same. You set the rules, and the repricer follows them. If you can tweak those rules so they result in the best possible shopping experience, like factoring in the shipping cost (so it’s possibly free for buyers?) and sending a message to prompt for feedback, then Amazon will take notice of your increased sales and ratings.
4. Send Out Personalised Emails to Get More Feedback
Buying online has so much to do with trust. Shoppers want to see that previous buyers have only good things to say about you, and your feedback section is where they look. But many shoppers are lazy, and only leave a review if they’re really upset with the process. Using feedback software to automate the process is one of the easiest ways of emailing your buyers and asking them to leave a review, which tells other buyers that you can be trusted.
5. Use FBM
In nearly all instances, going the FBA route is preferred for multiple reasons. But when it comes to the Buy Box, if you really have your heart set on winning one, then going FBM can come in handy. This is because FBM merchants take care of (and pay) the fulfilment costs themselves, and can reduce their minimum price accordingly to edge out competitors. By offering a lower price, they can potentially draw in more sales. However, be careful of this approach, as you have to weigh the importance of a Buy Box against profit margins.
6. Always Keep Your Inventory Stocked
If you run out of an item, there’s no way Amazon will give you a Buy Box. And why would they? It doesn’t make much sense on their end to give buyers a direct link to a product that’s unavailable.
7. Keep Your Order Defect Rate as Low as Possible
The three things that comprise the ODR (negative customer feedback, A-to-z guarantee claims, service chargebacks) are areas you want to avoid as much as possible. It measures how well you take care of the buyer after the order’s been placed and how satisfied the shopper is at the end of the day. Essentially, you want your reviews to be higher than three stars out of five, as few returns as possible, and as few credit card chargebacks as possible.
Final Thoughts
There are tonnes more tips out there when it comes to winning a Buy Box, but this will set you on the path for now. But keep tuning into RepricerExpress to learn all you can about rockin’ it on Amazon. And to keep your sales climbing, sign up today and get things started with a 15-day free trial.
