What is Sales Rank?
Sales Rank or Best Seller Rank is how well a product performs on Amazon based on how it sells compared to other products in the same category or subcategory.
The number one sales rank is the best-selling product in the category, number two sales rank, the second best-selling product, and so on. Every manufacturer wants their product to rank first in a category or subcategory.
Sellers use Sales Rank differently than buyers use it. Sellers look at it to see how quickly an item is selling on Amazon — the lower the number, the faster it’s selling.
Sales Rank can be found in the product details section of most (but not all) Amazon product pages.
If the sales rank is not stated, it may be that there is no sales rank for the category, it is a new product, or it has not been sold in the past two years.
How to understand sales ranking?
Just like the Buy Box algorithm, Amazon doesn’t disclose its sales rank algorithm, but it’s clear that it only considers sales and no other metrics. The sales time period is considered and the weighting of a particular time period is unclear.
Sales ranking is broken down into nine easy-to-understand sections.
☞Sales ranking shows the sales of the latest product;
☞Amazon updates the sales rankings of most products every hour;
☞One sale will have a huge impact on sales ranking;
☞Sales rank is not affected by seller type or product conditions;
☞If the product has no sales ranking, then it is either a new product or has not been sold for a long time (two years+);
☞There is no sales ranking for electronic products. However, Amazon does assign subcategory sales ranks to the Electronics category;
☞A good sales ranking does not guarantee that the product will sell in the future;
☞On the contrary, a bad sales rank does not mean that the product will never sell again.
☞Clothing shoes and jewelry categories are structured differently than other product categories.
Procurement and Return on Investment
Finding and purchasing inventory is called procurement. Sales rank is one of the most important numbers when it comes to making informed purchasing decisions.
The closer a sales rank is to number one, generally speaking, the faster that item will sell.
If you’ve been selling on Amazon for any length of time, then you know that each of the major product categories on Amazon has its own personality. Each category responds differently in terms of sales and sales rank.
For example, a book with a sales rank of 500.000 might sell a few times a week, but a toy with the exact same sales rank might sell about four times a year.
New sellers on Amazon often have a common goal, find a high volume niche item that will sell at a good profit and sell quickly.
There are two things you need to have with every item you purchase: a good return on investment (ROI) and a good sales rank.
Calculating ROI is a simple calculation that can be done using an online program or calculator.
Here’s the formula for working out your ROI. It is usually expressed as a percentage, so multiply the result by 100.
The selection criteria for small and medium-sized stores may refer to the following:
1. Select products based on platform characteristics
Know which categories on your platform are hot-selling, which categories are strongly supported by the platform, what products are easy to get recommended, etc.
2. Upstream sources are the first choice
When doing cross-border e-commerce export, it is best to choose first-hand sources of goods rather than products from agents at all levels to ensure the competitiveness of product prices.
3. Is there any infringement involved?
When selecting products, people tend to choose those that are small in size, light in weight, have a variety of styles and are updated quickly, have simple functions, have a high average order value, are easy to transport, and have low logistics costs. More importantly, you should choose a reliable supplier to avoid infringement.
How to improve product sales ranking?
In addition to doing a good job of product selection, increasing sales depends more on product operations.
Here are some ideas:
☞Maximize the visibility of your products, improve pictures and texts to meet the visual needs of consumers.
☞ Ensure that the product description is correct and embed high-conversion keywords
☞ Keep your products competitively priced (consider automating your prices using repricing software)
☞Get good product reviews legally
☞ Use social media to drive traffic to your product pages, or start a blog to promote your sales
Track sales rank
Sales rank changes hourly, so it can fluctuate significantly over the course of a month. Therefore, when you make a purchasing decision, you should not only consider the current sales ranking. Smart sellers will track their rankings over a period of time – daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly in some cases.
【Purple Bird Plugin】 allows sellers to track sales ranking and pricing history for almost every item on Amazon. You can see the average sales rank of your products, and if used effectively, these tools can help you gain an edge over your competition.
