The last two months of November and December are the periods when traffic on the Amazon platform surges.
Q4 Best
1. Thanksgiving: November 28
2. Black Friday: November 29
3. Cyber Monday: December 2
4. Christmas: December 25th
Now, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas...the best promotional opportunities that sellers have been looking forward to are approaching. There is no doubt that Amazon's Q4 peak season sales play a vital role in increasing sellers' sales throughout the year.
But did you know?
82% of Amazon’s sales are completed through the Buy Box. Sellers who own a shopping cart = have an entry for customers to add items to cart with one click. According to statistics, sales with a Buy Box are at least 4 times higher than without one. If your product is not in the Buy Box, your chances of making a sale may be slim.
The importance of the Buy Box is self-evident! Therefore, during the peak season, it is also crucial for sellers to understand how the Buy Box works and how to obtain and defend the Buy Box.
What are the basic conditions for obtaining the Buy box?
1. Must be a professional seller;
2. Have a record of selling products on Amazon for at least 2-6 months. New accounts will generally get the right to the buy box in about 3 months.
3. The store must have a high seller rating, delivery rating and ODR < 1%;
4. The product must have sufficient inventory. If there is no inventory, the Buy box may jump to the second seller.
How does the Buy Box work?
The Buy Box algorithm first analyzes all sellers’ offers and then evaluates each offer based on the seller’s history, price, and other variables.
After conducting its analysis, Amazon awards the Buy Box to what it deems to be the best purchasing option for the customer.
Not all sellers are eligible for the Buy Box, and Amazon no longer awards the Buy Box to one seller, but instead rotates the Buy Box among multiple sellers.
Several reasons for losing the Buy Box
Many times, sellers suddenly lose the Buy Box without knowing what they did wrong!
By far, the number one reason sellers lose the Buy Box is that Amazon believes that the seller has priced their product too high. So if you lost the Buy Box, it’s probably because of one of the following reasons:
Product pricing is not quoted below MSRP;
Product pricing is higher than what is offered on competitor websites;
The product is priced higher than the price determined by Amazon’s algorithm.
In addition, being copied by others, long-term low product sales, click-through rate and conversion rate, and receiving a large number of negative reviews in a short period of time may all lead to the disappearance of the Buy Box.
Another situation is that your listing needs to be modified, in which case the seller will also lose the Buy Box, for example, if there are problems with the photos, descriptions, etc.
Although many possible reasons for the disappearance of the Buy Box are listed above, it is worth noting that by far the biggest reason for sellers to lose the Buy Box is the first one, that is, Amazon believes that your product is too expensive.
How to regain the lost Buy Box?
Here are four strategies that can help you increase your chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box.
01. Understand seller indicators:
Sellers should understand their metrics in Amazon Seller Central.
02. Pay attention to important indicators:
Some sellers choose to focus on the metrics that have the greatest impact on the Buy Box. For example, seller feedback score is an important indicator, which is one of the reasons why sellers use Amazon feedback software.
03. Improve seller performance:
Use Amazon Seller Central to identify key areas where you need to improve.
04. Competitive price:
This does not mean the price is the lowest. One of the Amazon Buy Box misconceptions is that “having the lowest price will definitely win the Buy Box”, but if you always lower your price to the lowest, your profits will decrease and customers will think that your product quality is poor.
Optimizing your product prices will increase your chances of winning the Buy Box. With price optimization, your prices and subsequently your profits will increase. If you don’t want to manually repricing your products, consider using smart pricing software to save time and optimize your prices to stay competitive.
