Today, Amazon accounts for at least half of all online sales. Therefore, as a retailer, this is a place where you want your products featured. You’ll access millions of customers globally while accessing the state-of-the-art technology that gives your business a competitive edge. If you want to remain competitive on Amazon, you need your unique products featured in the Amazon Buy Box.
However, besides access to millions of consumers and unmatched retail technology, Amazon is not the easiest place to succeed. There are millions of businesses that are selling similar products. You need to observe all the necessary Amazon requirements to outperform such entities.
1. What is the Amazon Buy Box?
You’ll constantly notice a white box on the top-right corner of your product pages. The Buy Box button enables buyers to ‘Add to Cart’ and ‘Buy Now’ quickly, making the checkout process seamless and efficient.
Sellers have to compete for the Buy Box over time. At any given time, the winning seller will have the Buy Box on their product page, which means there’s a higher chance that buyers will consider their products.
If your products feature the Buy Box button, you’ll always make a sale compared to the other sellers who don’t have the Buy Box on their pages. Other sellers will appear down on the product page, making it difficult for customers to see and buy their products.
2. Why is it Important to Win the Buy Box?
Amazon Buy Box is one of the most critical aspects if you’re selling on Amazon. With the Buy Box driving more than 83% of the purchases, it’s clear that you cannot afford to ignore this feature. Sellers who want to impact and drive their profitability must maximize this Amazon innovation.
Besides driving sales and profitability, the Buy Box helps to show customers the highest-ranking sellers. It will highlight your high-performing products and competitive pricing. Therefore, your business will remain at the highest level, and there’s a higher chance you’ll continue to attract and convert visitors into customers. A Buy Box is a welcome feature that can quickly drive your business competition to the next level.
3. Why is There No Buy Box for My Item?
Not all sellers have an Amazon Buy Box on their products. As a result, some of them could be missing this essential and competitive feature. There are some significant reasons why this critical feature could be missing. One of the primary reasons this feature could be missing is that you’re selling your products way beyond the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Remember, Amazon has gone big on customer protection and building an online reputation. Anything that goes beyond the company’s expectations is a threat to the company. Therefore, you need to check why you don’t have an Amazon Buy Box on your products to avoid future challenges in your business.
Notably, most of the reasons that lead to a missing Buy Box can be fixed. However, you’ve to invest in understanding Amazon rules to avoid any issue that may lead to Buy Box missing.
3.1 What is a Suppressed Buy Box?
A suppressed Buy Box occurs when Amazon removes the Buy Box from your listing. When a Buy Box is removed from your listing, customers will not see ‘Add to Cart’ but will mostly come across ‘See All Buying Options .’In such a caw, you’ve been returned to default settings to compete with other sellers on the platform.
It’s not common for Amazon to make it difficult for customers to purchase various products through Buy Box suppression. However, Amazon does not explain when it happens, and you’ve to find it yourself. Here are some of the primary reasons why Amazon suppresses your Buy Box listing.
- You’re a new seller
- Incomplete product listing
- Less competitive prices
- The drastic decline in seller metrics
- Regular customer complaints
4. Why Did I Lose the Buy Box?
Getting an Amazon Buy Box is crucial because it gives you a competitive edge. It demonstrates the high-performance and competitive nature of your product. However, you can also lose the Buy Box. Losing this feature can severely impact your business.
Besides losing potential customers, you’ll lose sponsored ads, which will open the door to extreme competition from other sellers in your category. But how can you lose the Amazon Buy Box?
- Your prices are too high.
- Poor inventory health
- Poor overall account health
- Low seller feedback score
5. How to Become Buy Box Eligible
You must become Buy Box eligible before getting the Amazon Buy Box. Therefore, you’ve to fulfill some basic Amazon requirements that will enable you to get this coveted product listing feature. Some of the basic requirements you need to meet for Buy Box eligibility include:
- Creating a professional sellers account
- Maintaining excellent seller metrics
- Maintaining sufficient inventory
In some instances, you don’t have to meet the above requirements to get an Amazon Buy Box. For example, FBA sellers are automatically eligible for the Buy Box. But, importantly, meeting the above needs and being an FBA seller doesn’t mean that you’ll win the Buy Box.
Strategies for Winning the Amazon Buy Box
As an Amazon seller, you want to win the Buy Box. It will enable your business to increase sales and rank it on the first page. However, winning the Buy Box is not easy. You must provide an unmatched customer experience and offer products at the lowest prices. Here are some unique tips to improve your chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box.
1. Set Competitive Prices
Ideally, your listing prices should be competitive. Therefore, you should always be in line with the prices set by your competitors. Remember, having the lowest prices does not mean you’ll win the Buy Box. There are other performance metrics you’ve to consider. However, if you feel you’ve more room to lower your prices while maintaining profitability, this is an excellent tip to edge your competitors.
2. Consider Using FBA
The retail giant, Amazon, has two types of merchants for consideration. The FMA and FBA. When Amazon ships your products, you become an Amazon FBA. In such a case, you stand a better chance of winning the Buy Box because your products will be delivered on time. Of course, this doesn’t mean that FBM sellers can’t get the Buy Box. However, a new FBA seller can get the Buy Box much quicker than an FBM seller.
3. Enhance Your Customer Experience
Amazon is quickly becoming a customer-centric organization. The retail giant wants to ensure that customers get value for their money in a seamless and efficient experience. Therefore, you must align with customer objectives by incorporating customer experience approaches such as fast shipping, quality products, and competitive pricing. Paying attention to the customer experience is an approach that can increase the chances of winning the Buy Box.
4. Respond to Customer Queries
You might not notice, but Amazon constantly tracks how and whether you respond to customer queries. Therefore, you need to respond to your customers within twelve hours. If you take more than twenty-four hours to respond, there’s a higher chance that Amazon won’t be impressed.
5. Request Customer Reviews
As you already know, Amazon reviews help to rank your business in your product category. Your business will lack the necessary visibility that gives it a competitive edge without feedback. Remember, the Amazon Buy Box algorithm pays huge attention to your account’s reviews. Follow up with your customers and request them to provide reviews. You can make this process easier by using an automatic feedback tool.
6. Ship Your Sales Quickly
A vast number of Amazon sellers don’t use Amazon FBA. Instead, they have their shipment methods. If you’re using your shipment strategies, you need to ship your products quickly to stand a chance of winning the Buy Box. Amazon policy requires merchants shipping their orders to have at least 96% of orders delivered timely. Therefore, you have to invest heavily to meet such requirements or consider an Amazon FBA.
7. Watch Your Account Metrics
Amazon Seller Central is a reliable area in your account that provides performance metrics. Therefore, you need to constantly check this area and identify some of the places where your performance is below Amazon’s requirements or your expectations. Addressing the weak areas will enhance your business reputation and increase the chances of getting the Buy Box.
Strategies for Winning the Amazon Buy Box
As an Amazon seller, you already know that sponsored ads play a critical role in putting your products in the spotlight. Trellis’ Amazon ads automation feature lets you show your products at the top of the search results. This unique feature can also enable your products to display on the detail pages of other sellers as recommended alternatives.
Advertising automation tools now are essential in enhancing the ranking of the entire brand rather than a single product. With different sponsored ads types, you’ll increase listing traffic, increase conversion rates, and generate more orders for your business. Besides increasing your sales, your overall account performance will quickly improve your chances of getting the Amazon Buy Box.
Start your free trial of Trellis’ AI Ads automation platform and see how it can increase the chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box.