In 2021, Amazon recorded over one and a half million active vendors on its platform — an astonishingly high volume for a single e-commerce company. With more sellers entering the market every year, it is becoming harder for some to stay afloat in this competitive, ever-growing online space.
Winning the buy box on Amazon can help you boost your visibility online and make sales. However, accessing this essential seller’s tool can be challenging without the correct information. Read on to learn why the buy box is so important for your online sales and how professional Amazon management services can help you win it.
What Is the Amazon Buy Box?
The buy box is a module on the right side of the product page that prompts customers to add items to their carts or purchase them immediately. It also contains relevant details, including:
- The base price and shipping fee of the product
- Expected delivery dates/times
- Whether or not the item is in stock
- The desired quantity for purchase
For the average customer, the buy box is just a convenient UI feature that streamlines the shopping experience. However, this tool is crucial for your success on Amazon as a seller.
Many vendors sell the same products on Amazon. Consequently, the website rotates the buy box between eligible sellers.
Amazon’s buy box algorithm is not random. Several factors determine which vendors get priority — more on this later.
Advantages of Getting the Amazon Buy Box
Winning the buy box on Amazon yields numerous advantages for your selling power. Review the following reasons to see how you can optimize your ROI with this simple website function.
Making Sales
Around 80% of customer sales on Amazon happen through the buy box feature. Hence, achieving first place in the algorithm is a worthwhile goal to keep your revenue flowing. It also improves your market shares of the products you list.
Earning Pay-Per-Click Revenue
Without the buy box on Amazon, you won’t be able to run pay-per-click (PPC) ads on your products. This problem can reduce your online visibility and capacity to reach new customers.
Once you have the buy box, you can share targeted links to specific markets and drive traffic toward your brand.
Ranking Higher in Amazon’s Algorithm
As previously mentioned, Amazon’s buy box feature is an easy-to-navigate tool for customers, allowing them to purchase products with just a few clicks of a button. Earning the buy box will make it easier for users to find and interact with your brand during sessions. This advantage helps drive up conversion rates, reviews, and sales, boosting your account’s ranking in the algorithm.
How To Earn the Buy Box
Increasing traffic for Amazon listing products is the number-one priority of every vendor. The buy box can help, but you’ll need to build an effective strategy to earn it.
Amazon isn’t very transparent about how its algorithm works. However, Amazon management services have been able to identify some elements that appear to help many sellers earn the box. Below are a few tips these professionals recommend.
Register for a Professional Seller Account
Independent sellers cannot access the buy box on Amazon. You must register your brand as a verified seller in the U.S. and list products with A+ content ratings. You can check your eligibility in the Amazon Seller Central dashboard under “Manage Inventory.”
Prime sellers appear to get priority in the algorithm — most likely because services like Fulfillment by Amazon guarantee customers speedy deliveries.
If you are eligible for the buy box, you can also use the “Manage Inventory” page to view and manage product details like:
- Shipping prices
- Buy box prices
- Lowest product prices (with the option to match prices)
- Sales rankings
Remember, just because your product qualifies for the buy box on Amazon doesn’t mean the tool is already active on all your items.
Earn Positive Reviews on Products
Several good reviews on product listings appear to give vendors a slight advantage. Still, earning positive reviews on Amazon can take time. You can encourage customers to leave good reviews by:
- Reaching out to customers for feedback after a purchase
- Providing fast and professional communication when customers have questions or concerns
- Finding and contacting top Amazon reviewers
- Keeping the defect rate low on your products to avoid customer dissatisfaction
Streamline Shipments
Delivering shipments quickly and on time is a practical way to earn the buy box on Amazon. Opting into Seller-Fulfilled Prime could help you reduce the time between deliveries. This service allows you to transport products directly to local customers with Prime from your warehouse.
However, you don’t need to be a Prime seller to earn the buy box. Amazon prefers speed, no matter your shipping strategy.
Keep Products in Stock
Showing Amazon that you can maintain a healthy inventory of products may encourage the platform to give you the buy box. However, Amazon prefers new products over old or used items.
Deploy Competitive Pricing
Many sellers who offer the same products try to undercut each other’s prices to win the buy box. Competitive prices tend to do much better in Amazon’s algorithm because they drive more customers to the website.
Consider both the product’s base price and the shipping/tax prices when competing with other vendors.
You may win the buy box on some of your listings but not all. That’s okay if you are new to Amazon. Continue to provide quality customer service and competitive pricing, and you may experience more success in the coming weeks or months.
Improve Your Sales on Amazon With Click Fluency
Does your busy schedule make it difficult to manage your Amazon account and win the buy box? Our Amazon specialists can optimize your listings and earn you a better spot in the algorithm.
Without the right information, you could fall behind your competition. Review the restricted products list on Amazon to know what to expect.
Contact Click Fluency to book a free call to learn more about how to earn the buy box on Amazon.