be seen.
Quick Tips for Winning the Amazon Buy Box
Forrester recently reported that Amazon now outpaces search engines like Google as the place where shoppers begin their online
product search. With this new consumer trend, selling on Amazon becomes even more important, as does winning the Amazon Buy
Box. Learn how you can own the Buy Box with these 5 tips.
Tip 1: Obtain Featured Merchant Status
Amazon only allows sellers that have achieved Featured Merchant Status to win the Buy Box. This is definitely the extra-mile club;
maintaining just the status quo isn’t enough. To qualify, you’ll need the following:
• At least 3-6 months of selling history and/or order history (varies by category).
• To surpass customer-satisfaction metrics for your category by offering excellent shipping options, shipping speed, customer
service and more.
Even after you obtain Featured Merchant Status, your status will be reviewed regularly to ensure that you are maintaining the
appropriate standards. If you lose Featured Merchant Status, you can regain it by working to surpass the metrics again.
More than 90% of ChannelAdvisor’s third-party sellers on Amazon have
gained Featured Merchant Status and are eligible to win the Buy Box.
Tip 2: Compete where you can on price
When selecting who wins the Buy Box, Amazon considers
your total price, which includes shipping cost. Many
retailers mistakenly think that price is the only thing that
Amazon takes into consideration, and while it is the most
important aspect, we’ve seen sellers that do not have the
lowest price win the Buy Box.
ChannelAdvisor recently revamped its Repricer, a rulebased price adjuster, to provide better information,
unprecedented frequency control and predictive
capabilities. Retailers can now preview any SKU in realtime—within the parameters of the rules they input, their
competitor’s prices and their own product price ceiling and
limit—to see where that product would be priced.
Tip 3: Ensure you have sufficient availability
Before giving you the Buy Box, Amazon needs to be sure you have the inventory available to handle customer demand. Amazon
also wants to ensure that you can quickly fulfill these products to keep customers happy.
Consider using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)—even if it’s just for your top-selling products—so that the onus is on Amazon to
deliver your products and you have the benefit of its top-notch fulfillment infrastructure. Also, while Amazon doesn’t say that using
FBA helps retailers win the Buy Box, retailers that use FBA tend to have better feedback, better delivery, etc., all of which leads to
winning the Buy Box.
Tip 4: Maintain consistent order processing
Part of the popularity of the Buy Box is how easy it is. A shopper simply clicks then knows that they will receive that product quickly,
in good condition and for a reasonable price. Amazon wants to make certain that a retailer who wins the Buy Box is capable of
delivering consistently across all of their orders. Prompt shipping is also essential, preferably within a couple days of a customer
placing an order.
Tip 5: Order Defect Rate (ODR)
Order Defect Rate is all about customer service—Amazon’s trademark—and how well you are taking care of the customer once
they’ve made a purchase. There are three factors that make up Order Defect Rate:
1. Negative Customer Feedback—With Amazon, the customer’s experience is paramount, so Amazon pays close attention to the
feedback sellers receive. Aim to handle all negative feedback (which constitutes a 3 out of 5 or lower) quickly and judiciously.
2. A-to-z Guarantee Claims—Amazon also measures how often customers are returning your products, as this is another
measure of a negative customer experience.
3. Service Chargebacks – Amazon tracks credit card chargebacks as well.
It’s difficult to keep track of all of these moving pieces, which is why ChannelAdvisor has put together the Amazon 360 dashboard.
Amazon 360 pulls together all of the disparate metrics you need to keep track of into one clean dashboard, so you can see at a
glance your seller standing, your ODR, your top-selling products, your negative feedback, your A-to-z claims, what orders need to
be shipped and more. To learn more about how ChannelAdvisor can help you win the Buy Box, contact us at
[email protected] or 866-264-8594.