The way to get the most visibility on Amazon is to get the holy grail: the Buy Box. But what is the Buy Box? The Buy Box is the little yellow “add to cart” button on Amazon’s product pages and product listings.
But why is it important for merchants to win one or more Amazon Buy Boxes, and how do you go about getting and keeping them?
What is the Amazon Buy Box?
If you’ve ever ventured into the vast world of Amazon’s marketplace, you’ve probably noticed the little box at the top right of the product page. This strategically placed section is called the“Buy Box“. It’s not there for show. On the contrary, it plays a crucial role in customers’ buying experience and sellers’ sales on the platform.
In this famous Buy Box, you’ll find buttons such as “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now”, which are essentially direct invitations to make a purchase. When a customer clicks on one of these buttons, he or she buys the product from the seller who has “won” the Buy Box at that moment.
In other words, being the owner of this shopping box, even temporarily, can considerably increase your visibility and therefore your chances of making sales.
The Buy Box is awarded by Amazon according to a mysterious algorithm that takes into account factors such as product price, stock availability, customer satisfaction, delivery options and even shipping quality.
This box is the Holy Grail for Amazon sellers. Winning the Buy Box means not only increased visibility, but also a substantial increase in purchase rates.
Why is it important for merchants to win one or more Amazon Buy Boxes?
A visitor has found your product on Amazon and intends to buy it. Before the sale is yours, there’s only one obstacle: your direct competitors who have an offer on the same product.
Among all the active offers for the same product, one is highlighted over the others:it is said towin, or to be featured in the Amazon Buy Box. This gives the merchant 90% visibility of the product listing.
This Amazon Buy Box wins on average 82% of sales. Other, less visible offers share the remaining 18%. This is where the Buy Box comes in. Since most buyers don’t make the effort to consult other sellers’ offers on the product, most of the time, merchants who don’t win the Amazon Buy Box lose sales. The word “win” is perfectly appropriate, as this is a real competition between merchants.
This same offer wins the Buy Box that appears in search results, where a single price is displayed even if several merchants offer the same product.
For you to be the merchant who wins the Buy Box for a product, at the expense of your competitors, it’s not a question of paying, unlike intra-marketplace advertising campaigns. It’s your statistics as a merchant, and the attributes of your offer, that should make you more attractive to the marketplace than your competitors.
How do I get the Amazon Buy Box?
Although marketplaces do not disclose their buy box allocation rules, what we do know is that an algorithm is programmed to select sellers. The main criterion used is the customer’s buying experience (price, seller rating, number of reviews, customer service, delivery speed, etc.).
And yes, the Buy Box is a tool that the Marketplace uses to offer the best possible satisfaction and experience to its consumers!
Let’s take a look at which indicators to watch out for to give yourself the best chance of getting one or more Amazon Buy Boxes:
1. Shipping time
This is the time announced by the merchant to ship the product to the consumer. The shorter this time, the greater your chances of obtaining Amazon BuyBoxes! That’s why it’s so important to keep delivery times as short as possible.
2. Late Shipment Rate
The late shipment rate corresponds to all orders for which shipment confirmation is made after the estimated shipment date. It is calculated in relation to the total number of orders placed over a given period (10 or 30 days).
3. On-time delivery rate
This metric indicates the percentage of shipped packages that buyers have received by the estimated delivery date. It’s all about delivering on customer promises!
4. Order Defect Rate (ODR)
The rate of faulty orders is calculated by taking the number of orders with one or more faults divided by the total number of orders over a given period. Amazon takes three factors into account when calculating this rate:
- Claims from A to Z
- Negative comments from the seller
- Chargebacks
5. The Inventory Index
Winning one or more Amazon buy boxes with products that are frequently out of stock is highly unlikely! The marketplace will always favor a seller who has sufficient stock to satisfy consumer demand. You therefore need to maintain sufficient stock levels of your best-selling products to meet any potential increase in demand.
6. Cancellation rate
The cancellation rate before processing corresponds to order cancellations initiated by the seller only on the total number of orders placed during a given period (7 days).
7. Refund rate
The refund rate corresponds to all refunds requested by the consumer (for whatever reason), out of the total number of orders during a given period.
8. Valid Tracking Rate
The valid tracking rate corresponds to the number of orders shipped with a valid tracking number out of the total number of orders shipped during a given period (30 days).
9. Customer Response Time (CRT)
Customer response time represents the time required to respond to customer requests.
10. Feedback Score
This score corresponds to the reviews left by customers about your service. These reviews are rated out of 5 stars. The evaluation score is calculated as the sum of all positive evaluations over a given period (the last 30, 90 and 365 days and since the creation of the seller account). The Amazon marketplace uses this star system and rates them as follows:
- Positive rating: 4 or 5 stars
- Neutral rating: 3 stars
- Negative rating: 1 or 2 star(s)
11. Feedback Count
This is the number of reviews left by customers. The higher the number of reviews, the better your chances of getting the Amazon Buy Box!
12. Amazon POP Score
Amazon has combined several of these indicators into a single score: the “POP” (Perfect Order Percentage) score. This score represents the sum of perfect orders shipped out of total orders during a given period.
Amazon recommends a score of 95%.
Get the Amazon Buy Box and become the best seller on Amazon with Shippingbo
To obtain and keep the Amazon Buy Box, maximizing your performance and maintaining excellent indicators is essential. Always bear in mind that the more efficient your logistics, the better Amazon will promote you through the Buy Box. What the marketplace wants is for you to offer its buyers the best possible shopping experience, and for this reason, it wants to keep the “best” sellers on its marketplace.
With Shippingbo e-commerce logistics technology, you can be sure of being not only the best seller on Amazon, but also on other marketplaces with equally high standards.
To stack the odds in your favor, combine your logistics strategy with an intelligent pricing strategy using a dynamic repricer like Multiply, for example.
Want to get more Amazon Buy Boxes? Watch our dedicated webinar and discover how to get the Buy Box with logistical strategies and without sacrificing margin.
