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Securing the Buy Box on Amazon for Increased Sales.

by with No Comment Technology

Don’t let the notion of simply listing your products on Amazon fool you, selling on Amazon platform requires optimization and competition. A crucial aspect of this is conquering the buy box.

It may come as a shock, but it’s possible for a customer to purchase your item without it being credited to you as a sale. Discover the reasons behind this and how to secure the buy box for a profitable and thriving Amazon business.

If you don’t know what the Buy Box is on Amazon, you might be in for a tough time getting shoppers to buy your products. They’ll buy, of course, just not from you. The Buy Box is a critical piece of Amazon’s marketplace, especially when more than one person is selling an item. 

Key Takeaways 

  • You need to control the Buy Box to get sales 
  • They Buy Box is controlled by a variety of different variables that vendors and sellers can influence 
  • Take control first by learning about those that might be beating you out 

What is the Amazon Buy Box?

The Buy Box is the rectangle on the right side of the Amazon product page. The Buy Box can lead to the basket of different sellers, depending on who at the moment “wins” in terms of indicators. There, customers can click “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now.” Around 85% of all purchases on Amazon are made through the Buy Box.

How does Amazon buy box work

Amazon uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine who has the buy box, and the winner constantly rotates based on a number of factors. This is why it’s so important to understand how the buy box works and what you need to do to gain control of it.

How Does the Buy Box Algorithm Work?

Amazon’s number one priority is to create a good shopping experience for its customers. Because of this, the buy box algorithm is designed to determine which seller is able to offer the best combination of value and customer service to the buyer.

Here are all the factors that go into the formula:

  • Price: While it’s not the sole determining factor, it’s arguably the most important one. More often than not, if you match or offer the lowest price you’ll likely be able to win the buy box. Keep in mind that the algorithm also accounts for your shipping price as well. It does not include sales tax.
  • The Type of Seller Account You Have: Only those with a Professional Seller account are eligible for the buy box.
  • Whether Your Product is New or Used: Only new products are eligible for the buy box.
  • Fulfillment: Your ability to consistently fulfill orders quickly and efficiently also contributes. Using the FBA program gives you the best chance, as Amazon considers this the best way to fulfill and ship orders.
  • Order Defect Rate (ODR): Amazon monitors your ODR rate over the last four months. In order to win the buy box you should try to keep it under 1%.
  • Feedback: This includes how many positive reviews you receive and the total number of reviews you have. The more positive reviews you have the better.
  • Inventory: If your stock becomes low Amazon will be unlikely to award you the buy box as they want to make sure you can fulfill all the orders you’ll receive.

The exact workings of the algorithm are unclear, but the above items have proven to play a part in it. So, make sure to stay on top of all these factors while managing your Amazon business.

How to Win the Buy Box

Now that you know how the buy box works it’s time to go over what you can do to beat out your competition and actually get control of it.

Here are some of the best ways to win the buy box:

Use Fulfilled by Amazon

As we mentioned earlier, Amazon favours this fulfillment method over fulfilled by merchant. There are likely two reasons for this:

  1. Because Amazon is the one fulfilling the orders they can guarantee customers that they will be fulfilled correctly and quickly.
  2. Amazon wants to encourage more sellers to use FBA, since they make additional money from it.

Whatever the case may be, it’s been proven that using FBA has a positive impact on your ability to get the buy box. So, unless you have a very good reason to fulfill orders yourself you should definitely be using FBA. For most sellers, it will likely be way more convenient anyways. Plus, it makes you eligible for Prime shipping.

Offer as Low a Price as Possible

By this we mean, offer as low a price as you can while still making a profit. It doesn’t matter how often you get the sale if you’re not making any money.

To figure out what the lowest price you can offer you can consult with the Earnlytical Team to analyze cost. Earnlytical will help you to estimate all of your expenses (the cost of the product, referral fees, FBA fees, etc.) and determine your profit margins.

You can also spy on your competitors by using the different tools like Amazon Scout or contact Earnlytical where they will use enhanced strategies and tools to spy on your competition. This will allow you to see all of your competitor’s prices and monitor price changes over time to help you develop an effective pricing strategy.

Analyze competitors to win the buy box on Amazon

Build Up Your Seller Feedback

In order to consistently get the buy box you need to have a good number of reviews, and about 90% of those reviews need to be positive. Here are a few tips to help you generate more positive feedback:

  • Ask for Reviews: A great way to get more reviews is to set up an automatic email that gets sent to your customers once they receive your product. This gives you a chance to follow up with them about their purchase and ask them to leave you a review.
  • Answer Questions Quickly: Answer any questions you receive thoroughly and quickly. Amazon prefers you answer all questions within 24 hours.
  • Quality Control: When you receive your products inspect them carefully and ensure none of them are damaged. If you’re using FBA Amazon will do this for you, but it’s still good to check for yourself before sending your inventory to them. This lowers the chance that your customers will receive damaged goods.

Customer service is something that needs to be constantly maintained. If you slip up once or twice it can have negative consequences for your business, so always make sure you’re staying on top of it.

Keep Products in Stock

Managing your inventory is critical to your success. When your stock is low it lowers your odds of winning the buy box.

You can monitor your inventory in your seller central account. Don’t wait until you’re almost out to order more. Be proactive and place orders in advance to ensure you always have plenty of items in stock.

After selling for a while you should be able to figure out how fast you’ll run out of your products and how long it will take to receive them from your supplier. This should allow you to pinpoint the best time to place your order.

You can also keep tabs on your competitors’ inventory by using strategies from Earnlytical. .

Ship Items Quickly

Amazon doesn’t want customers to wait too long to receive their orders. If you’re not able to fulfill and ship items quickly they’ll punish you by not awarding you the buy box.

The easiest way to overcome this is by using the FBA program. With Amazon shipping your orders for you, you’ll always be sure that your products are getting delivered as quickly as possible.

Plus, Amazon won’t ever punish you for slow delivery times if you’re using FBA.

Tips and Tricks

Are you looking for more ways to boost your odds of winning the buy box? Here are a few more tips and tricks to help you be tops amongst the competition:

Choose the Right Product

If you want to make things easier on yourself choose a product that has less competition. The fewer competitors you have the easier it will be to get the sale.

Before you settle on a product make sure to do some research and consult with Earnlytical for checking the Products Total Available Market Share. Earnlytical uses high end data synchronization tools to pull up a wide range of stats on any product currently being sold on Amazon.

  • Estimated monthly sales
  • Number of reviews
  • Sales trends and history
  • A Niche Score letting you know how competitive the niche is
  • A Product Score letting you know how competitive a product is

Most importantly, you’ll be able to see how many sellers are currently selling a particular product. So, not only will you be able to choose a product that is proven to sell consistently well, but you’ll also be able to find ones that have fewer sellers, giving you a better chance at the buy box.

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Sell Private Label Products

When you’re selling the same item as 50 other sellers it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle. This is why many sellers start selling private label items.

A private label product is a unique item that has your own brand name and logo on it. It can either be a completely new product that you came up with or an existing product that you’ve modified.

The advantage of this is that because you’ll be the only one selling it you’ll always have the buy box, instead of being stuck in rotation. If someone wants to buy your unique product they can only buy it from you, meaning you’ll always get the sale. And because you own the product no one else can start selling it and take away a percentage of your sales.

Coming up with your own product may sound difficult, but it’s actually easier than you think. Alibaba is a great place to start. There are thousands of manufacturers there that offer a wide range of products. Simply reach out to some that offer the types of items you’re looking for and tell them your idea. Assuming it’s doable they’ll be happy to create a prototype for you to test.

There’s a little more legwork involved in creating a private label product, but once it’s developed the process is no different than selling any other item. Plus, with no other sellers competing against you you may find it’s also more profitable.

How to See Your Eligibility for the Buy Box

If you want to know if you’re eligible for the buy box you can do so in Amazon Seller Central.

Just follow these steps:

  • Log in to your Seller Central account.
  • Click on the “Inventory” tab.
  • Select “Manage Inventory.”
  • Click on the “Preferences” tab.
  • Find the “Buy Box Eligible” field.
  • Select “Show When Available.”
  • Once this is enabled you’ll see a “Yes” appear under the Buy Box Eligible column for a SKU when it becomes eligible.
How to see your Eligibility for the buy box Amazon

Make sure to check this for all of your products, as there may be something you don’t know about that could be preventing you from being eligible. If you feel you’ve fulfilled all the requirements but are still being listed as not eligible make sure to report it to Amazon seller support so you can get assistance.

Is it Worth Paying for PPC Advertising if You Don’t Have the Buy Box?

You may be wondering if you should run PPC ads if you’re competing with other sellers for the buy box. The last thing you want is to pay for an ad only for it to result in one of your competitors getting the sale.

Luckily, Amazon has a system in place to help prevent this from happening. Your ads will only appear when you have the buy box, giving you the best chance at getting the sale should the person who clicked on the ad decide to make a purchase.

That being said, you should still do everything you can to win the buy box if you’re running a PPC campaign. Otherwise your ads will never be displayed and your campaign won’t be successful. 

And once you do have the buy box a PPC campaign is a great way to boost your sales and take advantage of your position.

Conclusion

Earnlytical and its team of Amazon experts are here to fix Buy Box issues and navigate through many of the pitfalls that vendors encounter in their e-commerce business. Contact us today to discuss what your biggest challenges are and how we can help. 

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Revolutionizing E-Retail with Smart Contract Implementation

by with No Comment Technology

Smart contracts have revolutionized the way businesses operate, and the e-retail industry is no exception. By automating and streamlining processes, smart contracts can help e-retail companies reduce costs, increase transparency, and enhance overall efficiency. Here, we will explore how smart contracts can be implemented in e-retail management and the benefits they bring to the industry.

What are Smart Contracts?

Smart contracts are self-executing digital agreements that automatically enforce the terms of a contract when predetermined conditions are met. They are built on blockchain technology, which ensures that all transactions are secure, transparent, and tamper-proof.

Smart Contracts in E-Retail Management

Smart contracts can be used in various aspects of e-retail management, such as supply chain management, payment processing, and dispute resolution. Let’s take a closer look at each of these areas.

  1. Supply Chain Management

Smart contracts can be used to automate the various processes involved in the supply chain, from ordering and purchasing to shipping and delivery. By using smart contracts, e-retail companies can eliminate manual errors, reduce the risk of fraud, and increase the speed of transactions. Additionally, the use of smart contracts can improve communication and collaboration between different parties in the supply chain, making it easier to track the progress of orders and deliveries.

  1. Payment Processing

Smart contracts can be used to automate the payment processing process in e-retail. For example, they can be used to automatically release payment to suppliers once the goods have been delivered and confirmed to meet the agreed-upon specifications. This eliminates the need for manual checks, reduces the risk of fraud, and speeds up the payment process.

  1. Dispute Resolution

Smart contracts can also be used to resolve disputes in e-retail. For example, if a customer disputes a charge on their credit card, the smart contract can be programmed to automatically refund the customer if the dispute is determined to be valid. This helps to reduce the time and resources required to resolve disputes, as well as improving customer satisfaction.

Benefits of Implementing Smart Contracts in E-Retail

  1. Increased Efficiency

The use of smart contracts can help to increase efficiency in e-retail by automating and streamlining various processes. This can help to reduce costs and improve productivity, leading to increased profitability for e-retail companies.

  1. Improved Transparency

Smart contracts are built on blockchain technology, which ensures that all transactions are secure and transparent. This can help to increase trust between e-retail companies and their customers, as well as improving collaboration between different parties in the supply chain.

  1. Enhanced Security

Smart contracts are tamper-proof, making them much more secure than traditional contracts. This reduces the risk of fraud and ensures that all transactions are properly executed, even in the absence of intermediaries.

  1. Reduced Costs

By automating various processes and reducing the need for manual checks and interventions, smart contracts can help to reduce costs in e-retail. This can lead to increased profitability and competitiveness for e-retail companies.

Conclusion

Smart contracts have the potential to revolutionize the e-retail industry, bringing increased efficiency, improved transparency, enhanced security, and reduced costs. Earnlytical helps companies implement smart contracts that can gain a competitive advantage and improve their overall performance, leading to increased profitability and growth. If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of smart contracts in e-retail, be sure to reach out to us today.

Amazon

The Importance of Proper Amazon Product Type Selection

by with No Comment Technology

So much goes into a successful product listing on Amazon: perfect pictures, ideal keywords, A+ content, good ratings, glowing reviews, and more. But there is one critical element to a product listing that is sometimes overlooked by vendors and sellers. Product type is a key element of products that can enhance success if used correctly or leave them in obscurity if poorly chosen.

Key Takeaways

  • Product type categorizes and groups similar products
  • The details for different product types enable Amazon features to help shoppers find the right product
  • Amazon is always adding and updating product types for vendors and sellers
  • Updating your product type and details

What is Amazon Product Type?

The concept of product type is self-explanatory but has a high impact on the success of a product. Making sure that like items are listed together creates consistency and a smooth shopping experience for customers, especially if they are browsing rather than using the search bar.

The product type you choose for a item will determine the template of relevant information that you can input into the listing. If you choose the wrong listing, providing critical information shoppers need will be more difficult or you’ll be required to provide information that is irrelevant to your product. Worse, your product may never show up for a customer who would otherwise buy it in a heartbeat.

As Amazon puts it “Selecting the right PT…helps you describe your product more accurately and improves your listing convenience by only being asked for data on product-specific attributes.”

Features that use Product Type

Successful listings leverage every tool they can to reach shoppers and convert them to sales. Some of these tools are enhanced by proper product type.

  • Product Overview Experience: For many product types, the detail pages have a section right above the bullet points that provides relevant information for the product. This allows shoppers to quickly judge whether the product meets their needs or not. If that information is blank, it creates a hurdle that many shoppers may not want to jump to buy your product.
  • Tabular Spec View: Much of this product type specific information is also displayed directly in search results. If your product doesn’t have that information there because of improper product type management, shoppers may not click on it even if it is at the top of the search results.
  • Boosted Search Results: Product type is also a part of Amazon’s search algorithm. So, if your product happens to be under the wrong type, the keywords within your listing may not matter as much if it is in a category that isn’t specific enough, or wrong altogether.

Should I Update My Product Type?

Choosing the right product type when you initially list the product is key to a good product launch. However, Amazon continues to update its systems and processes, including product type. They regularly add available product types and update the product type templates as well.

Regularly checking the available product types will ensure that you can get your products into more specific or appropriate categories when Amazon introduces them.

Even if you are in the best product type, Amazon may have made new information required for those products. If you don’t have all those required values entered, updating other aspects of your product will be much more difficult.

How Do Vendors Update Product Type?

Often, Amazon will automatically update product types for you if their systems deem that another category better fits. This is convenient unless they move it to a product type that isn’t accurate for your product. This could be because of keywords or other information in listings that mislead Amazon’s automated systems.

If you have a product in the wrong type, you will have to file a case through Vendor Central Support, requesting the change in the item category.

If there is a product type update that requires more information for your product, you can add that information through Edit Product Details in your Vendor Central catalog. To add that information for many products, download a NIS spreadsheet through your catalog, fill out all the red boxes, and resubmit the product.

In conclusion, product type is a crucial element of a successful product listing on Amazon. Proper product type categorization can enhance your listing’s visibility and increase sales, while a poorly chosen product type can have the opposite effect. The experts at Earnlytical can help businesses maximize their e-commerce potential on Amazon by leveraging the best tools and strategies. Contact them today to learn more about how they can help grow your business.