If it seems like Amazon is constantly introducing something new to keep sellers on their feet, well, you wouldn’t be totally wrong. One thing they’ve introduced is the Amazon Featured Offer, which shares a lot of similarities to the Amazon Buy Box. Curious to learn more? RepricerExpress has everything you need to know about it and how to land one on your product listing.
What is the Amazon Featured Offer?
As we said, it’s similar to a Buy Box. Very similar, actually. You’ll notice there’s an “Add to Cart” button the same way there is with a Buy Box, allowing consumers a quicker path to purchase.
And like the Buy Box, it also contains — along with the “Add to Cart” button — the “Buy Now” button for instant purchases, the product’s pricing information, shipping information (such return details and Prime eligibility), product availability information and an “Add to List” button. There’s also the seller’s name in small print if you look closely.
So, if it’s essentially the same as a Buy Box, what differentiates it?
Pretty much just the name, it looks like. We’ve talked about the benefits of A/B split testing before and it seems as though Amazon is doing the very same thing itself. By keeping all elements the same except for one — the name — and testing out the changes.
It makes sense, too, as “Featured Offer” makes a lot more sense to understand than “Buy Box”, especially for those less familiar with Amazon.
All that being said, how do you qualify for the Amazon Featured Offer?
Getting a Featured Offer to Appear on Your Product Listing
Regular readers of RepricerExpress will know that we regularly offer tips on how to win an Amazon Buy Box. But for those a bit newer to the game, here’s a back-to-basics breakdown that’ll get you well on your way.
Step 1: Meet the Basic Eligibility Requirements
To get an Amazon Featured Offer button, you have to be an Amazon seller, at the very least. You can sign up for either an individual or professional account to get started.
We recommend going the route of the individual account at first until you can string enough sales together to move on to the professional account.
Step 2: Increase Your Sales Volume
Once you’re all set up and have a store ready, your next step is to increase your sales to the point that Amazon decides you’re ready to handle the increased traffic that a Featured Offer brings.
What that exact number is is a mystery, but you’ll need to show regular and consistent sales over at least a 30-day period so that Amazon knows you’ve got a handle on selling well.
Step 3: Keep Your Selling Metrics in Top Shape
We’ve written a post on the top Amazon seller metrics you should be paying attention to, so here’s a quick recap of them.
- Product ranking: aim to get on the first page of search results.
- Seller rating of 90%+: Make sure you’re scoring well in areas like shipping time, order cancellations, chargebacks, customer inquiries, customer reviews and A-to-z guarantee claims.
- Unit session percentage rate: This is like a conversion rate where you divide the number of ordered units by the number of total sessions, and is around 12% on Amazon.
- Units ordered: There are sellers of all sizes on Amazon, so we can’t give a hard and fast number for what it takes to be successful. Instead, look at the number of units ordered on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to gauge the steadiness (and hopefully rise) of your sales.
- Order defect rate: This metric combines a few that comprise your overall seller rating. For an order to be considered defective, it needs a one or some of the following: a negative review (1 or 2 stars), a chargeback or an A-to-z guarantee claim. Keep this number under 1%.
- Inventory performance index: Scored from 0 to 1,000, this metric takes into account your excess inventory and if inventory is stranded.
- Fulfillment performance: Amazon is well known for its excellent customer service, and it expects its sellers to deliver on their side. This means your order defect rate needs to be under 1%, your pre-fulfillment cancel rate needs to be under 2.5% and your late shipment rate needs to be under 4%.
Related: How to Improve Your Order Defect Rate
Step 4: List Competitive Prices
“Competitive prices” can be an ambiguous term because there’s no set range you absolutely must fall within.
Supply and demand plays a big role in this. As the overall stock of an item dwindles on Amazon, you can raise your prices and still be considered competitive. But raise them too much, such as having them much higher than a third-party site, can take you way longer to earn a Featured Offer button.
Amazon may send you an email stating
“The following offer(s) in your catalogue are currently ineligible to be the Featured Offer because they are not priced competitively compared to other retailers outside of Amazon. Visit [Pricing Health] within the Pricing section of Seller Central to lower your price and restore Featured Offer eligibility.”
Conversely, having super low pricing isn’t necessarily the best idea either. Buyers tend to associate rock bottom prices with cheap quality, which can turn them off ordering from you, which can mean less traffic to your listing and lower search visibility. It all goes hand in hand.
As well, manually repricing your items leaves you vulnerable to your competitors getting the speedy edge on you, so be smart and use an automated repricer instead.
Step 5: Have Excellent Shipping in Place
The biggest attraction of Amazon Prime is fast and guaranteed shipping. Using Fulfillment by Amazon is the easiest way of doing that, as Amazon will throw its full weight behind ensuring orders are fulfilled quickly and as promised.
It’s also one of the most surefire ways of following a direct path to a Featured Offer button. That’s not to say that avoiding FBA will exclude you, but it will make it much more difficult.
Step 6: Don’t Run Out of Inventory
Put simply, if you don’t have an item in stock, there’s no way you’re getting a Featured Offer button. Why would Amazon direct more traffic to you when you’re unable to fulfill orders?
But even if an item is stocked, it needs to be at an adequate level that buyers will receive them quickly. If you have only a handful of products left and it’ll take a couple of weeks to re-stock from your supplier, chances aren’t very good you’ll get a Featured Offer button, as your ordering time outweighs a buyer’s expected fulfillment time.
Final Thoughts
While Amazon’s algorithm for awarding a product a Featured Offer button still remains a mystery, enough is known that we can piece together a rough formula and competitive pricing remains one of the biggest factors.
To make life as easy on yourself as possible, use RepricerExpress to set things in motion while you take care of the rest. If you’re just starting out and don’t know if you’re ready for the investment, that’s okay.
We have a free 15-day trial you can use when you sign up now, giving you plenty of time to check the effects an automated repricer can have on your listings.
