The Buy Box on Amazon: What’s the Big Deal?

If you’re an Amazon Seller, you are definitely aware of the importance of having the Buy Box ownership. The rule of thumb is that whoever owns the Buy Box gets the sale. So who really gets the Buy Box and what factors come into play?
Owning the Buy Box is one of the most important features your product page can have, but it is also one of the most mysterious one. Amazon is keeping the Buy Box algorithm (Amazon, 2020) a top secret and very few people know the secret to it. However, there are some factors that we noticed from our experience, that play a certain role, big or small.

 

What is the Buy Box?

The Buy Box or the Feature Offer as it’s now called, refers to the box on the right side of the Amazon product
detail page, on the right from the bullet points to be precise. It includes information like the price, Add to Cart, Buy Now, Delivery Time, Sold By and similar.  Customers can begin the buying process by adding items to their shopping cart.
When multiple sellers are selling the same product, only one seller – who has the Buy Box – can get the order and sale. Or none of them, in fact.

The Importance of the Buy Box

Apparently, 83% of Amazon Sales go through the Buy Box (Reprices Express , 2020), so it’s no surprise that all sellers wish to own it. Clearly, the higher the percentage the better, but anything lower than the 90% ownership is what we consider to be an issue.
The importance of owning the Buy Box is even more demonstrated for mobile site because 79% of US adults are making their purchase via mobile device (99 firms, 2020). The Buy Box, on mobile devices, is placed directly under the product image and shoppers only see the Buy Box winner.
Without the Buy Box, Sponsored Products ads will stop running immediately, and as for the Sponsored Brands, the campaigns will continue, but you will end up paying for the traffic on the product page where another seller will get the sale.
Additionally, if you’re  running a promotion, it won’t be displayed on the product detail page. Promotions already have a low visibility on the product page, but without the Buy Box, there is no promotional message whatsoever.
It all boils down to that winning the Buy Box can make or break your Amazon sales.

Buy Box Eligibility Status

If you see the “Add to cart” or “Buy now” button, it means someone is currently owning the Buy Box. If you happen to see “See all buying options” it means no one owns the Buy Box, which makes a one-click sale or a purchase impossible.
Even if you’re the only seller on the product page, don’t think you’ve won it by default. The Buy Box ownership is not available to all sellers.
To be even considered for the Buy Box ownership:

• You must be a professional Amazon seller
• You must be selling items in a new condition
• You must have available inventory in stock.
• Account metrics and health must be in a good condition
• You must be selling on Amazon for a minimum of 6 months
• Sellers must have a sufficient order volume

Are you eligible?

There is a way to check if you are eligible for owning the Buy Box. However, this does not mean your products will actually be awarded the Buy Box, it just means that you are eligible and that you have a chance at owning it.

1. Log into Seller Central
2. Go to Inventory> Manage Inventory
3. In the upper right corner, select the Preferences tab
4. Find and select “Buy Box Eligible” and “ Buy Box Price” option
5. Go back to manage inventory and look at the Buy Box column. If there’s a “yes” it means you currently qualify

Amazon Buy Box Percentage and Real Estate

One thing that is important to emphasize is that the Buy Box is no longer given to just one seller. The Buy Box rotates among multiple sellers depending on many factors (yes, we’re getting there 😉 ). If there are more sellers with similar offers, Buy Box will be awarded to the seller with higher seller metrics (one of the factors) or to the seller with more inventory in stock etc.
In practice, a seller with better seller metrics could hold the Buy Box for 76% of the day, and the lower-ranking seller could hold it for the other 24% of the day. It means that the higher ranking seller would own the Buy Box for 18.5 hours, and the other seller could own the remaining almost 6 hours throughout the entire day versus in one continuous lump.
To check the Buy Box real estate share, follow these steps:

Seller Central

1. Log into Seller Central
2. Reports> Business Reports>Detail Page Sales and Traffic
3. Select any that you want: by date, by asin, by child, by parent,brand performance etc

Vendor Central

1. Log into Vendor Central
2. Reports> Analytics or Amazon Retail Analytics
3. Select Buy Box or Lost Buy Box

 

 

Amazon Buy Box Formula and Factors

As mentioned above, The Buy Box rotates among the sellers (Amazon, 2020). Amazon started doing this in order to give the customers the best possible deal and value for their money. Price of the product is definitely one of the most important factors for Buy Box ownership, but it’s a common misbelief that it’s the only factor and that the product with the lowest price gets the Buy Box.
With the introduction of rotating Buy Box, Amazon is now weighing several factors to determine who gets the Buy Box. This is where your seller metrics matter, for example, and the reason why you don’t want to overlook your seller and account health metrics.  (Get in touch with Bellavix Team if you want us to take over this burden! )

How to Get the Amazon Buy Box?

The Buy Box factors control how long and how often you own the Buy Box. The Buy Box ownership algorithm is data-driven – factors below are taken into consideration and they are being compared with other merchants to determine who has the offer with the best value and quality of service to the customer.

• Very Important: Fulfilment method and Prime Eligibility (FBA or SFP), Landed Price, Shipping Time, Order Volume, Available Inventory.
• Important: Order defect rate, Valid tracking rate, Late shipment rate, Delivered on-time rate, Feedback rating, Feedback count, Customer response time.
• Somewhat important: Cancellation and refund rate, Inventory Depth (how often the seller runs out of stock).

Important thing to mention is that Amazon will always prioritize vendors when awarding the Buy Box.

How to Become Buy Box Eligible on Amazon?

There are several things that you can control and influence in order to get the most share of the Buy Box ownership.

1. Offer Prime: Offer fulfillment either through FBA or SFP
2. Have the lowest price on Amazon: Create Amazon exclusive offers to avoid (price) conflicts among marketplaces.
3. Make sure you have plenty of inventory in stock.
4. Ensure and enforce your MAP policy with your distributors.
5. Review and optimize your listings and offers.
6. Make sure your seller performance and account health are in the best possible condition.

Common Reasons for the Lost Buy Box:

1. You’re a new third-party seller and/or are not Prime Eligible.
2. Your seller rating has dropped or you have poor performance metrics
3. Sales volume is too low.
4. Your product is less expensive on a third-party site.
5. Your product’s Amazon price is higher than the MSRP.
6. Other sellers have more inventory in stock.
7. A major price decrease triggers an automatic removal of the buy box (indicates a potential fraud or counterfeit products).
8. A major price increase can result in the buy box disappearing to prevent loyal shoppers from being ripped off.
9. The listing needs improvement (not optimized, broken, suppressed etc).
10. Increase in customer complaints.
11. Amazon is reviewing your product’s authenticity.
12. Multiple combinations of factors may be at play.

The process of awarding the Buy Box is organic. There is no paid advertising option to own the Buy Box and rightfully so. If owning the Buy Box became a paid option, the shopping experience could be compromised and could result in revenue loss. By developing the Buy Box algorithm, Amazon has ensured to be the first place that customers go to when they are looking for the most trusted shopping experience and most competitive offers.

Bellavix Tip: Technically, paid advertising can improve your chances of getting the Buy Box as it directly impacts sales velocity and can manipulate the other factors that help win over Buy Box… Slightly 😉

Owning the Buy Box is also an ongoing process and definitely not a set-and-forget type of thing. Amazon’s ecosystem is a competitive one and owning the Buy Box is just one piece of the puzzle. Get in touch with the Bellavix Team, a digital marketing agency, if you’re having issues with the Buy Box ownership or if you need a reliable partner on your Amazon journey to success.

Sources:

1. How the Buy Box Works  (Amazon)
2. Buy Box product placement (Amazon)
3. Featured Offer eligibility (Amazon)
4. Becoming the Featured Offer (Amazon)
5. Selling Policies (Amazon)
6. Product detail page rules  (Amazon)
7. BigCommerce Buy Box
8. Mcommerce Statistics
9. Digital Commerce
10. Scrapehero
11. Statista
12. Amazon Impact Report

 

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