Now that we know what is a Buy Box, the importance of Buy Box, Buy Box Eligibility Criteria and how to become Buy Box Eligible, I will now talk about one of the most important aspects of selling on Amazon – How to win Buy Box on Amazon?
In order to win Buy Box on Amazon, the first and foremost condition is:
- You are Amazon Buy Box Eligible
- Your listed items are eligible for Buy Box
Once you have met these conditions, you will then compete with other Buy Box Eligible Sellers selling the same product.
If you haven’t read the previous articles in this Buy Box Series, I would suggest you read those first to get the clarity on what is Buy Box and How to become Buy Box Eligible:
👉Amazon Buy Box – The Ultimate Guide (Part 1)
👉 What Is Buy Box Eligible – (Part 2: Ultimate Guide on Amazon Buy Box)
Table of Contents
5 Important Factors to Win Buy Box on Amazon
Note: Being Buy Box Eligible does not guarantee you will win the Amazon Buy Box for sure. All it means is that now you are eligible for Buy Box and have a chance of winning the Buy Box.
There are multiple factors that contribute to your chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box.
- Pricing – Price your products competitively.
- Stock Availability – Ensure stock availability and keep your inventory updated.
- Fulfillment – Offer multiple shipping options and ensure a quick delivery.
- Customer Experience – Maintain excellent Account Health
- Seller Rating – Strive to maintain a 5-star seller rating.
Now, let us discuss these factors in detail.
1. Pricing
Price your products competitively
Amazon does look at the price a customer will have to pay for a product (Product Cost + Shipping) so it is essential to price your products competitively. This includes shipping rates.
Either match or beat the competitors’ prices to improve your chances of winning the Buy Box.
Also, keep a check on Buy Box Price. It gives a fairly good idea of the price range you should consider for your products.
What is Amazon Buy Box Price?
‘Amazon Buy Box Price’ is the price at which the seller currently holding the Buy Box is selling the product.
To check the Buy Box Price:
- Go to ‘Manage Pricing’ Page under the ‘Pricing’ section.
- There you can see the ‘Buy Box Price’ column, which lists the current Buy Box Price for the items.
Note:
- If you see ‘-‘ under this column, it means no seller is eligible to win the Buy Box for this product.
- If you can’t see the ‘Buy Box Price’ Column, you can enable it by following the steps given below:
- Click on the ‘Preferences’ tab.
- In the Column Display Section, enable the display of ‘Buy Box Price’
Buy Box Prices are only displayed for ‘new’ items.
Ways to Maintain Competitive Pricing:
- Use Automate Pricing to price your products competitively. This will adjust your prices to match or beat competitive offerings and help you compete with them, even when you cannot manually check and tweak the prices.
- Check ‘Buy Box Price’ on ‘Manage Pricing’ Page. It displays the current Buy Box price (irrespective of who has the Buy Box). You can accordingly adjust your prices.
- Check the Pricing Dashboard to see real-time data about your prices and how they compare with other offers.
- View Pricing Recommendations in Amazon’s ‘Selling Coach Pricing Report’
Keep the prices competitive – Neither too high, nor too low!
Just selling at the lowest price alone does not guarantee that you will win Buy Box as a lot of other parameters are also considered. However, it does matter as it is one of the factors being evaluated.
Bonus Tip: Not only should you price your items competitively compared to your competitors on Amazon, but also consider the pricing outside of Amazon.
2. Stock Availability
In order to win the Buy Box and maintaining it, it is extremely important to ensure that:
- Stock is available, and
- Your inventory is updated
You can win Buy Box only for the products that are available in your inventory! Why?
Because you cannot sell a product that is not available 🤷♂️ so if Amazon sees that you do not have available stock, it will not give you the Buy Box.
Use best practices for Inventory tracking and planning, to ensure that your popular products are always in store. Creating effective and simple to remember SKU Numbers is one way of doing it. Learn more about SKU Numbers here 👉 What is SKU Code and How to create it?
Why Keep Your Inventory Updated
Keeping your inventory updated is important for two reasons:
- The stock availability data in your Inventory is the only way for Amazon to know that you have the product available for selling, which is essential for winning the Buy Box
- If the product is out of stock and you have not updated the inventory on Amazon, you might still get orders for that product. There are 2 possibilities here:
- You will either have to cancel the order from your end, or
- There can be a delay in procuring the item and shipping it to the customer
Both can affect your Seller Performance Metrics. There are chances that the customer may leave a negative feedback or poor ratings. This will, in turn, bring down your chances of winning the Buy Box again.
So to ensure buyers cannot order items that are out of stock, always keep your inventory updated.
For this, you need to have a proper plan in place to keep your inventory updated.
Inventory Run Rate
Inventory Run Rate is the average daily units sold in the last 30 days.
Let suppose you sell and ship products from your own warehouse, then it is important that you are aware of how much stock is available and how much you would be requiring in the future.
Inventory Run Rate helps you estimate this. This, in turn, helps you be prepared and keep enough stock available in your inventory for future orders and at the same time, avoid stocking too much.
You can calculate Inventory Run Rate as follows:
This will give you an estimate of how many units have been sold in a day on average in the last 30 days which will give you a fair idea of how many units may be required per day in the future. You can stock your products accordingly.
The ultimate objective of using this formula is to maintain at least 15 days worth of inventory in stock so that your chances of winning the Buy Box stay intact.
Monitor Your FBA Stock Report
If you are selling under the FBA Program, then I would recommend you to check your FBA Stock Inventory Report on a daily basis.
You can find this report in the Reports section in your Amazon Seller Dashboard.
Through the FBA Stock Inventory Report, you can check the number of days of inventory left and how much quantity is required to restock the inventory. It will also give you an estimate of by what date you have to restock that inventory.
Basically, if you are enrolled in the FBA program, Amazon does all the calculations at its own end and recommends the amount of inventory required and by what date to restock it.
However, I would still recommend you to double-check those numbers and use it only as a reference point instead of recommendations. Do your own calculations as well. I say this because if that inventory does not get sold out, then you will also have to pay the storage fees to Amazon which is not good for your business.
3. Fulfilment
How well you fulfil the orders plays a major role in creating customer trust and satisfaction.
Some of the factors that can have an impact are:
- Fulfillment Speed
- Shipping Options
- Participation in FBA
a. Fulfilment Speed
Sellers who provide faster shipping options have higher chances of winning a Buy Box.
Starting from the moment the “Order comes in” to “when the customer receives it” – this entire duration is considered by Amazon to calculate the Buy Box Factor.
Fulfilment speed plays a crucial role in winning the Buy Box and the easiest and most efficient way to increase your fulfillment speed is Amazon FBA.
The moment you register for Amazon FBA, your product gets the “prime” badge and through Amazon FBA, the product can reach the customer in a day or 2.
b. Shipping Options
Offer multiple shipping options like Free and Prime Shipping. Providing multiple shipping options indicates to Amazon, that you are trying to give the best experience to customers which is in line with what Amazon values.
c. Participation in FBA
Apart from improving the fulfillment Speed, registering for FBA transfers the headache of fulfillment to Amazon. Not only does Amazon value it as it is easier to trust its own service, even customers see it as more trustworthy since they see ‘Fulfilled by Amazon’ Tag on the listing. This can improve your chances of purchase.
I recommend this strategy to a lot of my clients who are competing for Buy Box. This helps them to increase their Buy Box Winning Percentage which further increases their conversion rate, boosting sales. This ultimately improves the organic rankings of the products as well.
4. Customer Experience
Maintain Excellent Account Health to win the Buy Box
For Amazon, customer experience is one of the most important aspects of its marketplace. And so it is really important to maintain excellent account health in order to win Buy Box.
There are several different ways in which Amazon measures the quality of customer service provided by a seller and these are reflected in Seller Performance metrics.
Some of the metrics like Order Defect Rate, Late Dispatch Rate, and Cancellation have more weight when it comes to deciding if you can win a Buy Box. But all other parameters matter too.
You can keep a check on these parameters through the “Account Health” Section in your Seller Central Dashboard.
In fact, keeping a track of these performance metrics is important for another major reason – ‘to avoid account suspension’. There are certain thresholds that Amazon has set for seller performance metrics. If you happen to go beyond these thresholds, your account can be suspended. [Read more about 👉 Reasons for Account Suspension and how to reopen suspended Amazon Account]
Getting back to Winning a Buy Box, always strive to give the best customer service.
There are surely reasons which make it difficult to maintain a perfect account health all the time like:
- Customers often return items simply because they did not like it or changed their mind after receiving it
- Delivery Service Provider can make an error
- Someone may leave a negative review just because the product was not up to their expectation or they felt it was fake even when the product was authentic, etc.
But if you follow Amazon’s guidelines and best practices, you can reduce these aspects to a great extent.
5. Seller Rating
Seller ratings & reviews are another way that helps Amazon, as well as other customers, decide whether a seller is trustworthy or not. This is why it is an important factor in winning a Buy Box.
Customer Feedbacks play an important role in deciding who wins the buy box. Customers can give feedback to your products based on various parameters. It can be related to shipping, packaging, fulfillment speed or any other thing that is directly or indirectly related to the customers’ experience.
Reviews & Ratings Influence Buyer Decisions
Even though this factor will not have a very big impact when compared to the other factors for winning the buy box discussed above, we can still not ignore it.
As we all know, customers do read the reviews and ratings of the products before purchasing them. So, more and better the feedbacks or reviews your products will have, the higher the chances or percentage of conversion will be, thereby improving your sales further.
You can check your feedbacks under the performance section in Amazon Seller Central Dashboard.
Strive to get a 5 star rating if you want to win Buy Box.
There are 2 things that you need to take care of:
- Getting as many positive reviews and 5-star ratings as possible.
- Reducing the number of negative reviews and low ratings.
Both take efforts – in different ways.
Getting Positive Reviews and Rating
Most Important – Do not post fake reviews and ratings.
Some sellers make a mistake of asking friends and family to leave fake positive reviews with 5-star ratings. Some even pay professionals for it. My advice is – Don’t do it.
If Amazon notices it (and it is smart enough to sense that you are faking reviews), your account can get suspended.
Often the buyers who get what they wanted and are happy with the item, do not bother to leave reviews or ratings. One way to get your customers to leave reviews is to follow up.
Throughout the fulfilment process, right until the order is delivered, keep your communication channels open. Communicate with your customer. Keep them updated. And once the order is complete, follow up with your customers for a review.
Email Drip Strategy
To improve your quantity and quality of feedbacks, you can use the Email Drip Strategy that I use for myself as well as my clients.
In this, you have to simply send an email to your buyer one or two days after they receive the products, asking politely to review the products.
You have to be patient in this activity. It does not happen overnight. You might have to send multiple emails for this.
It is possible that if you have sent an email to 100 customers, only 2 out of them actually leave a review. But trust me, even those 2 feedbacks are very valuable for your Amazon Business and to win Buy Box.
Reducing the Number of Negative Reviews and Low Ratings
There is only one scenario that is absolutely not in your control – fake reviews and ratings. Apart from that, all other cases can be reduced to a large extent by following best practices.
Below are some tips to reduce the chances of negative reviews or low ratings:
- Make sure your listings are absolutely correct with the correct title, description and image clearly communicating what your product is. Do not try to mislead the buyers.
- Upload high-quality product images from every angle that clearly show how the actual product will look like. But, do not enhance the images with the purpose of enhancing the product itself.
- Always sell high-quality products and ensure that your products are not defective before shipping them.
- Follow Amazon packaging guidelines to make sure that package can reach safely to the buyer without damages.
- Follow best practices for order fulfillment to ensure that packages are delivered on time. In case of an unexpected delay, communicate with your buyer and let them know of the delay.
- Register for FBA
- In case an error happens (even if unintentionally), leaving the customer unhappy. address the concern as swiftly as you can. Often acknowledging the mistake and resolving the issue quickly can prevent the customer from leaving a negative review. Furthermore, in some cases, you may rather get a positive review for your customer service.
There may still be times when customers leave a negative review and sometimes the issue reported may not even be correct. There are ways to remove negative reviews in certain cases.
[Watch video to learn more about 👉how to remove Negative Review from Amazon.]
Winning Amazon Buy Box as a New Seller
Winning the Amazon Buy Box as a new seller can be really difficult but it is not impossible. Amazon does not give Buy Box to new sellers immediately even if you are the only seller selling that product. It will take its time to ensure that you are performing well.
You have to first prove your performance and only then can you expect winning the Amazon Buy Box. Selling on Amazon takes patience. If you think that you will start getting orders soon after you list your products, you will be disappointed. First order takes time. So keep patience. [I got my first order after almost 3 months]
Can a New Seller Really Win a Buy Box on Amazon?
Now one question that most of the new sellers ask and you must be wondering too is:
Winning the Buy box on Amazon depends on your performance and experience on Amazon as a seller but without a buy box, chances of a sale are low, especially for new sellers. So, Is new seller winning a Buy Box even a remote possibility?
The Answer is YES! It is difficult but not impossible. As I said earlier, you have to keep patience and make the most of every opportunity.
The Best thing you can do as a new seller is to create the best listings possible. Ensure you are following the best practices and optimize your listings based on Amazon SEO.
[Watch video to Learn Amazon SEO]
Optimizing your listings can help improve your organic visibility in Amazon search results.
Video in Hindi (With Subtitles)
Subtitles in Multiple Languages – Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, French, English
Conclusion
Winning the Buy Box takes time, effort and patience. If you are following the best practices and Amazon’s guidelines to ensure good overall customer experience, you will surely win the Buy Box.
However, it is not a one-time activity. You have to consistently provide good quality and maintain excellent account health.
Also, it is equally important to optimize your listings from time to time and tweak your strategy and pricing based on current market trends and what your competitors are doing.
No doubt, it is a lot of effort, but pay off is also good! So KEEP SELLING, KEEP SMLINING!
What Next?
Next, I will discuss the 👉Amazon Buy Box Algorithm.
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