Winning more Amazon Buy Box in 2022 is the goal of most sellers, especially since 90% of Amazon sales go to Buy Box holders. However, for some Amazon sellers, this goal may be unattainable due to the lack of technical knowledge and proper information on how to improve their Buy Box win rate. 

In order to help you start your new year right, here are some concepts, tips, and suggestions on how to get more Amazon Buy Box this 2022 to potentially increase your sales conversion. 

To give you an overview of this article, we have outlined the contents concerning the Amazon Buy Box:

Catalog  

• Amazon Buy Box: The What and Where
• The Buy Box Purpose & Dynamics
• In Brief: Amazon Buy Box Eligibility
• Primary Factors Influencing Buy Box Win Rate
• Contributory Elements to Winning More Buy Box
• Amazon Buy Box and Repricing: A Closer Look
• Common Misconceptions About the Amazon Buy Box
• Amazon Buy Box Listing Suppression
• Amazon Seller Tools for Winning More Buy Box
• The Secret Revealed

Amazon Buy Box: The What and Where

Understanding what an Amazon Buy Box is, is fundamental for a successful Amazon reseller business. To refresh the understanding of both newbie and experienced Amazon sellers, the Buy Box is simply the portion of the product detail page where customers can add items to cart (Add to Cart) or immediately buy them by clicking the “Buy Now” button.

Amazon.com: An screenshot (cropped) of Amazon product listing; Retrieved: Dec. 24, 2020, From https://amzn.to/34XBgkv

In relation to the Buy Box, such a product detail page feature allows Amazon shoppers to make purchases even without having to consider who the seller is, be it Amazon or a third-party seller. 

The majority of Amazon shoppers do not bother scrolling down the product detail page to see what other competitors are offering for a particular listing. Instead, shoppers simply go with the Amazon Buy Box recommendation and proceed with their purchase. Thus, leveling the playing field by allowing third-party merchants and small businesses to compete against big brands and companies.                                                                                                                                                     

The Buy Box Purpose & Dynamics

Your familiarity with what is Amazon Buy Box is just the start of the learning process, you also need to understand its dynamics. One of the secrets to winning more Amazon Buy Box in 2022 is to understand how the Buy Box actually works. 

As compared to other marketplaces and platforms, the Amazon Buy Box is relatively complex. With the Amazon algorithm, a number of variables are being considered in order to win the coveted Buy Box. Factors for Buy Box consideration will be discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.    

Since Amazon prides itself on great customer service, it is not surprising that the tech giant also greatly values customer satisfaction. For that matter, not all Amazon sellers are awarded the Buy Box spot to avoid delivering a poor customer experience. 

In Brief: Amazon Buy Box Eligibility 

Understanding what is Amazon Buy Box, its purpose, and how it works is useless if you are not Buy Box eligible. Not all Amazon sellers are eligible for the Amazon Buy Box, there are certain requirements to be met for a seller to become Buy Box eligible

If you wish to become Amazon Buy Box eligible this 2022, especially for newbie sellers, you will need to become an Amazon FBA seller. Sellers enrolled in the FBA program will automatically be eligible for the Buy Box. 

Alternatively, if you opt not to become an FBA seller, you may still be eligible for the Buy Box once you have met these three main requirements.

• The Amazon seller must have a professional seller account. Take note that upgrading to the professional account will require a $39.99 monthly fee. 
• The Amazon seller must maintain order volume. Having maintained order volume allows Amazon to see you as a seller capable of providing the level of service on par with Amazon standards. 
• The Amazon seller must also have close to zero cancellation, order defects, or late shipment rates. These elements are scrutinized by Amazon to see how well you perform in relation to purchasing history. 

Primary Factors Influencing Buy Box Win Rate 

In order to select the best sellers to complement buyers’ shopping experience, the Amazon algorithm takes into consideration factors for awarding the Amazon Buy Box. Hence, Buy Box rotation occurs to fulfill such a goal of connecting shoppers with the best Amazon sellers. 

Product Price

One of the crucial factors the Amazon algorithm considers for choosing the Buy Box winner is of course the product price. Since Amazon likes to be viewed as an affordable destination for online shopping and a customer-centric company, it gives importance to the listing price. 

Top Amazon sellers suggest vigilance in monitoring the Amazon marketplace for any price changes to aptly adjust the price. Most sellers use an Amazon repricer to make strategic price changes automatically to ensure that they stay competitive on the listing. Seller Snap’s algorithmic repricer will achieve this for you. Thus, increasing the chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box in 2022.

Fulfillment Method

The seller’s fulfillment method of choice considerably influences the Amazon Buy Box win rate. Although not explicitly required by Amazon, it has been observed that Amazon FBA sellers are highly favored by the Amazon algorithm to win the Buy Box. 

Amazon favors FBA because such a program allows quick order fulfillment, which is also one of the key factors for winning the Buy Box. Consequently, a quick turnaround time also results in customer satisfaction.         

Customer Feedback

The growth and success of Amazon are hinged on their customer obsession. Since they are highly invested in customer experience, it is no surprise that customer feedback is among the key factors for winning the Buy Box. 

Knowing what is Amazon Buy Box is not enough. If you wish to win more Amazon Buy Box this 2022, you should improve your feedback rating score. If you want to know more about Amazon feedback improvement you may CLICK HERE! 

Contributory Elements to Winning More Buy Box

Apart from the primary factors for consideration in winning the Buy Box, sellers should also take into account other contributory elements for winning more Buy Box. If you wish to win more or maintain your Buy Box win rate, here are some of the things you should do.  

Provide Excellent Service: By providing top-notch customer service, be it for an initial query or post-sales assistance, sellers will increase the chance of getting positive feedback, which in turn leads to improvement of the feedback score.

Offer Free Shipping: Another supplementary factor to help you win more Buy Box this 2022 is to offer fast and free shipping to Amazon shoppers. By enrolling in Amazon FBA or Seller Fulfilled Prime, you can offer added value to shoppers. 

Manage Inventory Well: Inventory is critical in any retail and sales-related industry, which is why Amazon sellers should always see to it that they never run out of stock. For increased Buy Box win rate, Amazon inventory must always be updated. Sellers should prepare to restock items that are quick to sell. With the help of an inventory management tool, this can be done easily. 

Establish Your Seller Reputation: As frequently mentioned, Amazon gives preference to sellers in good standing. That is why it is best to establish your reputation in order to be considered for the Buy Box. To do so, you will have to request feedback and reviews from customers to keep your Amazon seller reputation healthy.                                                     

Secure a Healthy Amazon Account: Not known to most sellers, Amazon metrics such as Cancellation Rate, Refund Rate, Late Shipment Rate, Order Defect Rate, and Valid Tracking Rate are contributory to determining the Buy Box winner. Such rates are important for Amazon for they indicate how well you are performing as a third-party seller. 

Introduce a Pricing Strategy: Competitive pricing is critical in winning the Buy Box. For that matter, a pricing strategy should be developed. To help you create a dynamic pricing strategy, the use of an Amazon repricer is beneficial. With an Amazon repricer, creating a pricing strategy will be much easier, especially with an automatic repricer capable of adjusting according to the marketplace situation.   

Amazon Buy Box and Repricing: A Closer Look

Inexperienced Amazon sellers’ go-to method when it comes to pricing is to simply lower their product price beyond what the competition can offer. However, such a method does not always translate into profit. 

More than just knowing what is the Amazon Buy Box, sellers should incorporate the use of a repricer into their pricing strategy to increase the chances of winning more of the Buy Box in 2022. There are three types of repricers that you can use for your Amazon business.

1. Manual Repricing: As its name would suggest, manual repricing means manually inputting and updating listing price based on market changes, including competitors’ pricing. However, an increase in SKUs will make manual repricing a laborious, if not impossible task. 

2. Rule-Based Repricing: An alternative to manual repricing is rule-based repricing. True to its name, this type of repricing strategy allows Amazon sellers to set up rules and conditions depending on specific scenarios.

Sellers may choose to set rules for the repricer to respond based on competitor price, or other factors such as time of day, or seasonality. Worth noting that established repricing rules will not directly interfere with one another, but they will rather work together to deliver price optimization, depending on the repricer that you chose.

3. Algorithmic Repricing: Algorithmic repricing or otherwise known as automatic repricing finds the best price over time by evaluating certain market conditions and your competitor’s pricing strategy. With the help of an algorithmic repricer, sellers can easily create a dynamic repricing strategy.

This type of repricing approach makes use of algorithms to automate repricing for better price optimization. The algorithmic repricer considers numerous variables, including but not limited to competitors’ behavior and their market approach, current marketplace situation, and price change notification via Amazon API. 

When using an algorithmic repricer especially one based on AI, sellers can be more hands-free when it comes to repricing because the algorithm is self-learning. Hence, making it an ideal repricer for Amazon sellers who wanted to automate the repricing process as much as possible. 

Common Misconceptions About the Amazon Buy Box 

There are many misconceptions about the Amazon Buy Box. The main culprit for this confusion is the lack of proper knowledge of what is Amazon Buy Box. Hence, it is crucial to grasp what the Amazon Buy Box is and the essential elements to improve your Amazon business. 

Here are some of the common misunderstandings about the Amazon Buy Box.

Non Buy Box Sharing: This is a common misconception among newbie sellers. It stems from the fact that Amazon itself also wins the Buy Box for their own listed products. However, it is inaccurate to think that Amazon favors itself more than third-party merchants and in most scenarios, they share the Buy Box with other sellers. 

Buy Box Eligibility Switch: Some sellers believe that they themselves can decide when to become Buy Box eligible. As discussed above, Amazon has its own criteria for a seller to become Buy Box eligible, there is no magic switch that sellers can use to expedite eligibility.

Buy Box Exclusivity: There is no such thing as Amazon Buy Box exclusivity. Amazon allows other merchants to appear in the Buy Box. Hence, there is what we call Buy Box sharing. 

Lowest Price Myth: Since price is one of the factors for winning the Buy Box, some sellers believe that sticking to the lowest price will lead to a consistent Buy Box win. However, sellers should realize that the Buy Box algorithm considers not just the product price, but also other factors which were discussed above. 

Amazon Buy Box Listing Suppression

Since Amazon is quite strict with its policy, sellers should not be complacent when it comes to winning the Buy Box. Although sellers have previously won Buy Box, this does not guarantee that Amazon may not resort to Buy Box suppression.

Buy Box suppression means that Amazon has removed the entire listing from the Buy Box, mainly due to the current selling price being much higher than the RRP. 

Another reason that some sellers experience a suppressed Buy Box is that they were unable to maintain Buy Box eligibility standards set by Amazon. Factors for ineligibility may include poor customer reviews, seller metrics drop, incomplete or inferior listing optimization, and not meeting the sales volume over a given timeframe. 

In order to keep winning the Amazon Buy Box, sellers should always see to it that the customer-centric spirit of Amazon is observed all the time. This can be done by providing quality products and services to Amazon shoppers at a reasonable price, as well as strictly observing marketplace guidelines.                                                

Amazon Seller Tools for Winning More Buy Box

To maintain your Buy Box win rate or even increase it, it is recommended that you utilize internal and external Amazon seller tools. Some of these reliable Amazon seller tools include but not limited to:

• Amazon Repricers
• Keyword Research Tool
• Amazon FBA Calculator
• Inventory Management Tool
• Feedback and Reviews Tool
• Product Research Tool
• Seller Analytics

If you wish to stay on top of your competition, using Amazon seller tools will definitely boost your Amazon store performance. Thus, leading to increased store engagement and the Buy Box win rate. 

The Secret Revealed 

The ability to adjust your strategy, especially when it comes to winning the Amazon Buy Box is of paramount importance. That is why you should be flexible enough to adjust to the industry changes and integrate necessary Amazon seller tools to bolster your Amazon business in 2022.

For a newbie seller, it is logical for you to compete for the Amazon Buy Box. Almost all Amazon third-party sellers are aiming to be listed on the product detail page where the Buy Box is located. However, not all sellers are immediately considered Amazon Buy Box eligible.

When creating a seller account, you are given two options. If you want to improve your revenue, you should sign up for the professional plan, instead of the individual selling plan. While the latter does not come with a monthly subscription fee, the former comes with a fee but with many privileges, and one of which is access to the Amazon Buy Box.

More importantly, you should also take into account your customer experience. Amazon reviews are among the criteria that give you a greater chance of attaining Buy Box share. Amazon A9 algorithm can determine which particular product should be placed in the Amazon Buy Box based on exceptional reputation and noteworthy customer reviews.

Amazon allocates the Amazon Buy Box privileges to shoppers to provide them with the best product search and shopping experience.

Amazon How to Win Buy Box: Here’s How To Capture Buy Box Share

Fulfillment Method

Third-party Amazon sellers have an option when it comes to fulfilling orders. You may choose between fulfilling orders by yourself or using the Amazon FBA program. Amazon FBA or Fulfillment By Amazon suggests that you are handing off the responsibilities to Amazon, including but not limited to picking, packing, and shipping.

Although FBM or Fulfillment by Merchant has its own advantages, FBA is popular among sellers mainly because Amazon provides Buy Box preference to FBA sellers. One of the factors behind such bias is that Amazon is more convinced that they can deliver products or orders on time, rather than relying on merchants’ own logistic capability.

Hence, FBA is the ideal answer to the question of Amazon how to win buy box.

Language Smart

Like in any other enterprise, communication is the key. Communication is among the answers for the question on how to win buy box on Amazon.

And in order to communicate well to consumers or buyers on Amazon, be sure to get your language right. This simply means that you should see to it that the optimization of your product title and its description are done well. Needless to say that proficiency in Amazon SEO is of great advantage.

Since your aim as an Amazon seller is to make your product visible, then you should take care of the product listing optimization. This is one of the trade secrets on how to win Amazon buy box.

By doing so, your product will have a greater chance of appearing in a product search result. That is why Amazon listing content matters when it comes to the Amazon Buy Box.

Inventory

If your orders outweigh your stock-take, competing for your Buy Box share might be thwarted. In-stock inventory to fulfill orders is as important as receiving the orders themselves. If you are wondering on how to win buy box on Amazon, then you should start taking into account your inventory.

For that matter, it is of critical importance that as an online seller you are responsible for your inventory. Implement an inventory management strategy to address order volume spikes and avoid delays and inconveniences.

Smart Pricing

In the consumer industry, pricing has a huge impact on the behavior of consumers as well as the success of a business. If you have been asking on how to win Amazon buy box, then pricing is one of the key factors for consideration.

A sudden change in price without a substantial basis may break or make your business. If you aim for longevity for your Amazon business, then you should have a smart Amazon repricing strategy.

From a macro-perspective, smart repricing will improve the longevity of your business. On the same note, such a strategy also affects the chances of increasing your Buy Box winning rate. To help you stay competitive when it comes to Amazon repricing, the use of a repricer is recommended.

Seller Snap is the best solution when it comes to automated repricing needs. Amazon is a competitive environment for online sellers, especially those aiming to capture the Buy Box. With the advanced features of Seller Snap and its Game-Theory based AI repricer, it can automatically implement a smart repricing strategy.

Seller Snap takes into account competitor behavior and price change notifications from Amazon. Thus, resulting in a more logical repricing strategy aimed at capturing the Buy Box at a higher price point.

As a third-party Amazon seller, your main goal is to improve Amazon sales or increase revenue and as much as possible avoid Amazon returns. One way of dealing with the former is to increase your Amazon Buy Box winning rate. By doing so, an increase in Amazon sales will likely happen.

Staying competitive in the online selling industry is a must for every Amazon seller, especially as Amazon has been rapidly increasing its reach and online sales shares. With the growing dominance of Amazon over its competitors like eBay and Walmart, third-party Amazon sellers are expected to benefit from it as well.

It was even reported last year that Amazon is still in command in terms of sales, with 47%. In the same report, eMarketer forecasting analyst Cindy Liu was quoted saying, “Amazon’s growth still outpaces that of the e-commerce sector as a whole. Amazon will continue to look into areas of high growth potential…”

With the given statistics and the continuous expansion of the e-commerce giant, Amazon sellers are continuously competing for Amazon Buy Box share. The Amazon Buy Box is prime real estate that helps to improve Amazon sales.

Amazon Buy Box: Two Way Perspective

For the benefit of newbie Amazon sellers and to refresh the knowledge of experienced sellers, the Amazon Buy Box is the widget visible on the far right of the screen. The main function of the Buy Box is to provide shoppers a quick and easy way to make their purchase of the Amazon product they were searching for.

With the help of the said widget, shoppers may select various options from the selection provided, including the quantity of the item to be purchased, shipping speeds, and even gift options. One of its distinguishing features is the presence of the “Add to Cart” button. Technically speaking, both “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” buttons are the “Buy Box.”

The one discussed above focuses on Buy Box from a buyer or shopper’s perspective. However, for an Amazon seller like you, you should view the Buy Box as both a sales and advertising opportunity. Hence, Amazon Buy Box eligibility is important, as well as winning the Amazon Buy Box.

It is a sales opportunity, for owning the Buy Box increases the chances of your business making more sales. This claim is statistically supported, for according to Statista, more than 80% of Amazon purchases are executed through Amazon Buy Box.

Alternatively, the coveted Buy Box does not only help in sales generation, but it also helps in creating Amazon PPC ads. Thus, emphasizing again the importance of Amazon Buy Box eligibility and understanding the Amazon Buy Box formula.

In order to run a PPC ad, the Buy Box, along with other requirements should be present. With the help of Amazon PPC (pay-per-click), you as a seller will be able to bid on prices of clicks for certain keywords. To know more about Amazon advertising opportunities in general, you may click here.

Buy Box Rotation Overview

Although the Buy Box is commonly observed on the Amazon platform, not all sellers are able to attain it. Amazon will often share the Buy Box among sellers who are eligible for it and are offering competitive pricing. This is called Amazon Buy Box rotation.

As commonly experienced and noticed by Amazon sellers, Buy Box rotation happens when multiple sellers are bidding at the same or similar price for their item. As well as this, Buy Box rotation also occurs in situations when sellers have the same fulfillment method.

Understanding the Buy Box from a singular formula perspective will surely be difficult, for in reality, the concept behind the Buy Box is a bit complicated. The Buy Box algorithm takes into consideration various data points. To name a few, the current market condition, seller’s behavior, the market place itself, are some of the avenues through which the Buy Box algorithm gathers its data.

However, Amazon industry experts and enthusiasts alike are both convinced that Buy Box rotation, though not solely, is extensively dependent on pricing. That’s how the Amazon Buy Box formula works. Such an outlook is based on the fact that price is the most controllable factor among the aforementioned avenues and conditions.

That is why experienced Amazon sellers who are time conscious and result-driven will rather not take a chance with manual repricing but, rather implement a smart pricing strategy with a reliable Amazon repricing tool like Seller Snap.

Buy Box & Seller Snap Dynamics | Winning Amazon Buy Box

As previously mentioned, there are many factors for Amazon Buy Box eligibility. This section will focus more on the influence of pricing on your Buy Box strategy as well as the efficiency, competence, and reliability of Seller Snap in influencing the Buy Box winning rate.

Since pricing is one of the most crucial and manageable factors in winning Amazon Buy Box,  Amazon price wars can and will occur among sellers. Without proper knowledge of Amazon seller tools, one seller will naturally aim to out-price or outbid the others. Thus, resulting in a race towards the bottom of the price structure.

Therefore, making it important for sellers to understand Amazon Buy Box eligibility. This buy box eligibility Amazon is crucial in any seller’s goal to increase sales and store engagement.

At first glance, such a strategy could be considered effective due to increased Buy Box share. However, a race to the bottom will of course eat into your profit margins. Having the lowest price does not always guarantee the Buy Box, and worth noting that selling on Amazon does not only involve a singular price cycle change.

In order to win the Buy Box without having to always decrease your price, you need a repricing strategy apart from simply understanding buy box eligibility Amazon. Seller Snap uses tactics inspired by Game Theory to outsmart your competitors by applying the optimum strategy for each individual listing. The aim here is to maximize profit by increasing the listing price.

Instead of having to immediately drop price continuously, Seller Snap’s algorithm analyzes the pricing behavior of your competitors and uses a collaborative approach to get you your entitled share of the Buy Box at a higher price point, instead of trying to dominate the Buy Box at the lowest price point. When sellers attempt to dominate the Buy Box, it’s likely that they’ll end up sharing the Buy Box, but at their min price.

In the case of a competitor using a rule-based repricer to match the lowest FBA price, Seller Snap’s more advanced AI repricer can easily outperform the rule-based repricer that will result in sharing the Buy Box at the highest possible price, rather than settling on the lowest price.

The algorithmic repricer does this by analyzing Amazon’s price change notifications, scanning the competitive environment, and understanding the competitor’s decision. If you wish to know more about Seller Snap’s AI repricing tools, you may click here.

When looking at some of the more common metrics such as Amazon Buy Box share, average price, and revenue, it is important to understand what these numbers tell you about the effectiveness of your repricing software.

Why your average listed price is not that important?

Let’s say you are offering an item where there is one other seller on Amazon, and that seller is offering the item at $11.

You used to sell the item for $11, not using a repricing software and sharing the Buy Box with your Amazon competitor.

Now you started using a repricing software that is lowering the price to $10 and winning the Buy Box. It then increases the price to $15, losing the Buy Box to the other seller.

Your average price is $12.50 and you may be getting 50% Buy Box share, however, the average price of $12.50 is meaningless because you are never winning the Buy Box at that price. You are now getting 50% Buy Box share at $10 instead of $11.

The more important metric to look out for is your average buy box winning price. This is a weighted average of your listed price while you were in the Buy Box.

If you are getting the same Buy Box share as before, but at a higher average winning price, you stand a higher chance of increasing your profit (assuming the price change is not large enough to affect the demand for the item).

If you’ve looked at any repricing software lately, you probably noticed they offer some form of automatic “smart” repricing that will guarantee you always win the Amazon Buy Box at the highest possible price.

What’s wrong with this claim?

True, Amazon provides each professional seller with the data necessary to know whether they are currently in the Buy Box. It’s also easy enough to calculate how much you need to decrease your price to win the Buy Box (if you’re not currently in it).

Problem is, for any competitive product sold on Amazon there are at least a few other strong sellers who are using some sort of repricing software and also want their chunk of the Buy Box.

This scenario can very quickly trigger a “race to the bottom”, killing profit margin for all, and leaving you with the same Buy Box share you had when you got started but at the lowest price you are willing to sell for.

Using such a rule to reprice all your products is the reason behind all the buy box price wars everyone is complaining about. Hence, checking buy box price is crucial.

So what can you do?

Unless you are certain you can beat your competition on price and are going for maximum sales velocity, you should instead accept the fact that you need to share the Buy Box with other competitors and focus on getting that Buy Box share at a higher average price.

In most cases, to avoid buy box price wars you must accept that you must sometimes lose the Buy Box.

You can achieve this by winning the Buy Box when your competitors are priced relatively high and willing to lose the Buy Box when market prices are low (remember your competitors are using repricers and constantly updating their price as well).
Would you like to find out about more unconventional, and automated, ways to win the Buy Box? Reach out to us to find out more.