Happens! Especially when you are a new seller or a reseller on Amazon, your chance of getting sales is zero without the Amazon Buy Box. You can say it’s a silver bullet that everyone wants to generate constant revenue for their brands.
But, the bad news: The competition for winning this box is way too high!
And the good news: It’s not impossible if you have the right strategies in place.
Hence, in this post, I’ll give you 9 unbeatable strategies for winning the Amazon Buy Box with proper reasoning.
Ready to unlock the secrets? Let’s start!
But First, What Exactly Is Amazon Buy Box?
Upon landing on Amazon’s product pages, you must have noticed the highlighted “Add to cart” or “Buy Now” sections on the right-hand side. They are simply called Amazon Buy Box.
Now, if you are a new seller, maybe you’re wondering, “Well, what’s the use of Amazon Buy Box?”
Let me explain it.
Before that, think about Amazon’s product detail page. It allows only one listing for one unique product. Now, if you are a private-level seller, you don’t need to worry much about Amazon Buy Box. You’ll automatically get it.
But what if you’re selling such an item where you need to stand against other sellers selling the same item? Whose item would be shown on that page?
To solve all these confusions, Amazon has introduced its Buy Box. On one side, it’ll help the most trustworthy and deserved suppliers (who will fulfill the Buy Box eligibility criteria )get sales. On the other hand, it will ease buyers’ shopping experience so they don’t need to scroll through hundreds of product listings from multiple sellers.
What Are the Advantages Of Winning The Amazon Buy Box?
If you are a seller, winning the Amazon Buy Box will open up lots of opportunities for you.
1. Increases Sales
Do you know 82%-90% of Amazon sales go through Amazon Buy Box?
Yes! Being a customer-centric marketplace, Amazon always takes extra care of its customers. And as Buy Box streamlines their purchases, almost every customer prefers to buy via the Amazon Buy Box. Meaning if you win this, your chances of getting sales will increase.
2. Boosts Credibility
When you win the Buy Box, your customers see your product listing by default.
And once they get the instant buy option, they hardly scroll through other sellers as they think your brand is the most trustworthy and official one especially recommended by Amazon.
Hence, winning the Buy Box boosts credibility among your customers.
3. Levels Up Marketing Efforts
Amazon Buy box will power up your PPC marketing campaign!
How?
Think about it this way. Amazon allows third-party sellers to promote their products through Amazon PPC. Now, if you win the Buy Box, you can increase CTR because of the Box’s authority.
5. Gives An Edge Over Competitors
Amazon Buy Box would give you an edge over your competitors – and it’s a no-brainer.
Obviously, when you get a share of Amazon Buy Box or win it at any chance, you’ll stay two steps ahead of your competitors, that’ll further help you boost your revenue.
Are You Eligible To Win Amazon Buy Box?
Now that you’ve laid down all the basics, it’s time to check whether or not you are eligible enough to win it. But first, it’s better to mention that there’s no particular Amazon Buy Box winner. It changes every day – every hour.
Why? Because who will appear as a winner in Amazon Buy Box is determined by a complex machine learning algorithm that considers thousands of standpoints. And these metrics are continuously changing.
With that, let’s check what criteria make you an eligible Buy Box winner:
1. A Professional Seller Account
As you know, Amazon offers two types of seller plans – Individual plan and Professional Seller plan. Now, if you want to win Amazon Buy Box, you’ll need to opt for the professional account that’ll cost you $39.99/month.
2. New High-Quality Products For Selling
As I already said, Amazon is a customer-centric platform. It never compromises with customers’ shopping experience. Hence, you must sell new, unused products on this marketplace.
It will help your customers get high-quality products and increase the chance of winning Amazon’s Buy Box, which highly depends on lower return rates and good product reviews.
3. Sellers’ experience
Winning the Amazon Buy box also depends on how long and frequently you sell on Amazon. Because the more experienced you are, the more it helps Amazon algo evaluate some key metrics that determine a Buy Box winner. ( More about this in the next point).
4. Other Important Metrics
Once you have fulfilled the former three criteria, here are some other key metrics you need to consider to become an eligible Amazon Buy Box winner:
| Key Metrics | Minimum Criteria |
| Fulfillment Method | FBA/seller fulfilled prime |
| Landed Price | Lower |
| Shipping Time | <14 days |
| Order Defect Rate | <1% |
| Valid Tracking Rate | >95% |
| On-time delivery | >97% |
| Late Shipment Rate | <2% |
| Customer response time | Within 24 hrs |
| Feedback score | Higher |
| Feedback count | higher |
| Cancellation rate | < 2.5% |
As you saw, these eligibility factors are not static. That’s why Amazon doesn’t grant this Buy Box to only one seller. Instead, it continues to rotate the Buy Box among multiple sellers with amazing seller metrics and performance.
Well, now you know the key metrics that affect the chances of winning Amazon Buy Box. But are you eligible enough? How’ll you check that?
Don’t worry! It’s pretty simple!
All you’ve to do is to follow these steps:
Go to Amazon seller central → Manage Inventory → Preferences → Buy Box Eligible → Save Changes.
If the row shows “yes,” it means you are all set to obtain that Buy Box.
9+ Proven Tactics To Win Amazon Buy Box
If you are with me till this section, I’m pretty sure you have all the capabilities to win Amazon’s Buy Box. So, follow these proven techniques that’ll help your winning journey much easier:
1. Optimize Product Listing
If you want to boost your eligibility as the Buy Box winner, ensure to optimize your listing. Well, don’t worry! Product listing optimization isn’t as tricky or technical as it sounds. All you have to do is to follow a few simple steps, including:
- Add high-quality product images
- Inject relevant keywords in the product title and description
- Write a compelling product description
- Use bulleted list
- Give complete information regarding your products
2. Offer Out-Of-The-Box Order Fulfillment Service
Another important aspect that affects Amazon Buy Box winning is the fulfillment service. If you already are an Amazon seller ( or a would-be Amazon seller), you know that Amazon has three types of order fulfillment processes – FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon), FBM (Fulfillment By Merchant), and SFP (Seller Fulfilled Prime).
Now, when it comes to Buy Box win, Amazon doesn’t care what fulfillment process you have – yes, you heard that right!
It only cares about whether your shipping process is good or not, whether you ship on time or not, and whether your customers are happy with your shipping process or not.
That’s why, if you go for FBM, Amazon might not trust you so easily. You need to work for a long period to get Amazon’s trust. So, one of the best methods to win Amazon’s trust (and also Buy Box) is to go for Amazon FBA, where Amazon itself would take care of your inventory and order fulfillment process.
Even if anything goes wrong with order fulfillment, Amazon would be responsible for it. So win-win!
3. Price Your Product Strategically
Pricing plays a crucial role in determining whether or not you will get the Buy Box. There are two types of prices on Amazon – 1. Listed Price (the price you have listed on the product page) and 2. Landed Price (listed price with shipping cost and VAT.)
Amazon says that the lower your landed price, the higher your chance to win.
But remember selling your product at a bedrock price will definitely increase your chances of winning the buy box, but it has lots of other negative impacts that can hamper your brand. For example, when you sell an item at a bottom-rock price, your buyers might doubt the quality of the product. On the flip side, your profit margin would go to zero.
Hence, ensure to strategize your price. If possible, you can contact your suppliers and compromise the wholesale product price so that you can profit and win the Buy Box simultaneously.
4. Plan Your Inventory
If you want to win Amazon Buy Box, you must be serious about your inventory system.
Why? Again it boils down to Amazon’s customer obsession. Amazon wants to show the best product recommendations and in-stock items to customers.
In such a situation, if your customers see their favorite item is out-of-stock, it’d hamper their buying experience and Amazon’s reputation. Hence, for Buy Box win, Amazon always prioritizes those who have enough inventory to sell.
5. Provide Great Customer Support
Great customer service is non-negotiable if you want to win Buy Box as fast as possible. Here are a few practices you must consider to provide the best Customer service:
- Sell high-quality products to delight your customers.
- Keep your customer in the loop throughout the order fulfillment process.
- Send accurate items your customers placed the order for.
- On-time delivery. If possible, send the item before the approximate delivery date.
- Maintain order-cancellation rate.
- Offer free shipping and discounts.
- Keep a seamless refund policy.
6. Improve Seller Ratings
If you provide great customer support, your seller rating will automatically improve, and it’ll further increase your chances of winning the Buy Box.
Here, note that product rating and seller rating aren’t the same. Seller ratings mainly depend on overall customer experience, from product listing to order fulfillment.
7. Don’t Sell Prohibited Items
There are a few product categories that are prohibited on Amazon. These include – grocery foods, music category, alcohol, animal-related products, etc. So, if you want to establish yourself as a brand seller and win Amazon Buy Box, avoid selling these prohibited products.
8. Save Yourself From List Hijacking
As a private-level seller, you’ve almost a 99% chance to win Buy Box if you tick off all the eligibility criteria. But sometimes, other third-party resellers try to hijack your listing, which hampers your authority. And once you face such an issue, winning Amazon Buy Box goes far away from your hand.
Hence ensure to protect your listing from such unauthorized hijacking.
9. Utilize Amazon’s Advertisement Services
While this point isn’t that important but can favor you to get the Buy Box. It’s better to remind you that Amazon offers multiple advertising services like sponsored products, sponsored brands, and sponsored displays.
Now if you go for these services, it’ll boost your product visibility and earn trust from Amazon. And it might help you get a good share in that Buy Box.
Related Read:
Wrap Up! Win Amazon Buy Box (2023)
As you saw, winning the Amazon Buy Box is no rocket science! But holding that buy box share is surely tricky.
Thus be super strategic and provide the best possible customer service to win the buy box constantly. However, if you want to optimize your buy box winning journey, you can take help from some amazing tools like Helium 10, JungleScout, and Feedvisor. They will automate will workflow and help you win that box.
Hope our tips will make you a better performer in this journey. If you’ve any doubts regarding the same, comment below!
FAQs
Getting Buy Box on Amazon is easy but not simple. You have to maintain competitive landed prices, excellent customer services, and other performance metrics like shipping time, order defect rate, valid tracking rate, and order defect rate to get a Buy Box on Amazon.
To calculate Amazon’s Buy Box percentage, divide the number of times your product pops up in the buy box by the total number of page visits. Once you get the answer, that’s your Buy box percentage.
Yes, new sellers get the buy box if they are eligible enough. However, you can speed up your Buy Box win process by registering for Amazon FBA.
