New study: Does Amazon prefer itself in the Buy Box?
The accusation: Amazon prefers itself in the awarding of the Buy Box. The rumors have existed for years. Especially in the community of Amazon sellers, the accusation seems to have already established itself as truth. There is currently no concrete evidence of a circumvention of competition rules, but at least the antitrust authorities are also investigating the corporation.
Because the dual role that Amazon takes on is particularly problematic: The company is both the owner of the platform and a seller on this platform at the same time. Although Amazon does not have a monopoly, it does have a very high market share in German online retail.
Now the ARD business magazine Plusminus has also dealt with Amazon and the rumors about the Buy Box. In collaboration with a price analysis company, several tens of thousands of products were observed and evaluated. The results are quite surprising – but different from what most marketplace sellers would probably assume.
Why is the Buy Box so crucial?
Plusminus се фокусира на Amazon Buy Box. Жълтият бутон, който позволява добавянето на продукти в количката за пазаруване, е известен на всеки клиент на търговската платформа. А за продавачите, особено на търговски стоки, полето за количката за пазаруване играе решаваща роля.
Because instead of creating a separate product page for each offer (as eBay does, for example), Amazon consolidates all offers of the same product on a detail page. To decide which seller receives an incoming order and thus has sold the product from their inventory, the Amazon algorithm considers various parameters, including price, shipping method, shipping speed, and any customer reviews.
Now, the fact is that the vast majority of customers order directly through the yellow button and do not take the effort to look at the other offers of the product. Therefore, whoever wins the Buy Box receives about 90% of the sales. Those who do not win the Buy Buy Box practically walk away empty-handed. Thus, the competition for the shopping cart field is crucial, and the awarding criteria are antitrust significant. If Amazon were to prefer itself here, it might be abusing its market power.
Does Amazon prefer itself and its own offer? – Study results
For the Amazon study, Plusminus examined 64,000 products on the marketplace of the online giant. Both price and delivery speed were considered in the analysis, but no other criteria such as the reliability or customer rating of a seller were included. All products included in the study were offered by several merchants as well as by Amazon itself.
» Според Plusminus, Amazon е притежавал Buy Box за 20,000 от 64,000 продукта. Това е малко над 31%.
» За около 8,000 продукта (12.5%), Amazon е притежавал Buy Box, въпреки че имаше и други доставчици, предлагащи по-ниска цена. Тук Amazon беше средно с 1.83 евро по-скъп, но обикновено също и доставчикът с най-бързо време за доставка.
» В контекста на 156 продукта, Amazon не само е притежавал Buy Box с по-висока цена, но е имало и поне един друг продавач, който може да достави толкова бързо, колкото Amazon. Това представлява само 0.25% от разгледаните продукти.
For each of the 156 sellers, it could potentially be a significant loss if Amazon were indeed to prefer itself here and disregard competition rules. However, regarding the overall study, the result is different from what many marketplace sellers would have likely assumed beforehand. 156 out of 64,000 products is an insignificantly small share.
Освен това, проучването на Plusminus разглежда Amazon Buy Box единствено на базата на два критерия за награждаване: цена и скорост на доставка. И двата аспекта безспорно са много важни, но не са единствените решаващи фактори. Най-малко единадесет други Buy Box критерия могат да бъдат идентифицирани, които също играят роля в награждаването на полето за количката за пазаруване. Игнорирането на тези предоставя само изкривена представа за реалността.
How marketplace sellers win the Buy Box with the highest possible price
Държането на Buy Box не с най-ниската, а с по-висока цена е наистина възможно за мнозинството от доставчиците на търговски стоки. Въпреки това, ръчното регулиране на цените е безнадеждно начинание – твърде много критерии и конкуренти трябва да се имат предвид. С подходящ инструмент за пренастройка, това може да се управлява доста надеждно. Именно това SELLERLOGIC прави за своите клиенти от години. Buy Box дял от 95% не е рядкост.
Annemarie Raluca Schuster
“В крайна сметка, компаниите могат да реализират успешна ценова стратегия само с помощта на софтуер; ръчното изпълнение не е осъществимо. С SELLERLOGIC Repricer успях да увелича своя Buy Box дял до 95%!”
In contrast to the Amazon study conducted by Plusminus, the Repricer inherently takes into account the important Buy Box criteria. As a result, it wins the Buy Box not with the lowest, but with the highest possible price depending on the current status of the other metrics of the offering seller.
Искате ли да постигнете Buy Box дял от почти 100%? Тогава тествайте SELLERLOGIC Repricer сега безплатно за 14 дни!
Conclusion: Plusminus study on the Amazon Buy Box
Amazon’s dual role in connection with the high market share it has in e-commerce is certainly problematic, even though there is no classic monopoly in online retail. However, the result of this large-scale study of nearly 64,000 products also shows why it is so important not to focus solely on price or delivery speed as the decisive metrics.
In addition, there are many other customer-relevant criteria that influence the price with which a seller can win the Buy Box for their offer. Only with intelligent software is pricing for Amazon sellers still meaningful and, above all, economically feasible today. It is important to choose a dynamic Repricer that not only keeps an eye on the price but also on other important metrics and competitors.
Image credit: © Nuthawut – stock.adobe.com
