The Amazon Buy Box – What It Is and How to Win It
The orange field “Add to Cart” – also known as the Amazon Buy Box – is the most coveted button on the platform for sellers. And for good reason. Not only do the winners of the Buy Box gain greater visibility for their products, but they also make many more sales than their competitors. Discover everything you need to know about it in this article – especially how to win the Buy Box on Amazon and maintain it.
What is the Amazon Buy Box?
In the Amazon universe, the section located on the right side of the Amazon product detail page that is used by customers to purchase items for their cart. Let’s take a look at an example and also take this opportunity to check how the e-commerce giant structures a page to influence buyers’ decisions:
As you can see above, the “Add to Cart” field is prominently placed next to the item and visually emphasized in a highlighted orange. On the other hand, competing sellers – those who have not been awarded the Buy Box – are located in a less conspicuous position below. In our example, the other sellers have their own smaller “Add to Cart” field, drawing attention to their alternative offers. This is very beneficial for them, but it is not usually the case.
Does the placement of these elements have any effect on how buyers react? Very much. Approximately 90 percent of all purchases are made when buyers click on “Add to Cart.” In other words: the seller who was able to win the Amazon Buy Box also wins the majority of sales.
So in summary: sales go to the seller with the most wins in the Amazon Buy Box, which means that any entrepreneurial seller on Amazon would do well to constantly work on ways to win the Amazon Buy Box and maintain it.
Let’s take a look at the possibilities.
How to Become Eligible for the Buy Box?
Being eligible for the Buy Box means that you have met certain criteria that allow you to be placed in the “Add to Cart” field due to your high performance as a seller. What do you gain from the eligible seller status? On one hand, greater visibility. Even if you are not in the Buy Box itself, you are still eligible to be placed in the ‘More Buying Options’ section, which also makes you more attractive to buyers. Although there is no established formula for entering or winning the Buy Box, there are certain requirements you must meet to be considered:
1. Professional seller account
To be eligible, you must be a professional seller for at least 3 months. Someone with an individual seller account (‘Basic Account’ in Europe) will not be considered.
2. High-performance metrics
According to Amazon’s mantra of putting the customer first, only sellers who provide their customers with an amazing experience can become eligible for the Buy Box. We have listed all the factors in which you need to excel below.
3. Novelty
The newer the items you sell, the greater the chance of winning the Amazon Buy Box with them. Only if there are no new items available will eligible sellers offering used items be considered.
4. Availability
Your listed item needs to be in stock.
If you run out of stock, the Buy Box will go directly to the next seller. That’s why it’s vital to always have a sufficient order volume (the “sufficient amount” varies by category).
5. Dynamic pricing
Although Amazon does not communicate this, it is a well-known secret that it is primarily the sellers with the most competitive prices who have the Buy Box. While setting very low prices for your items is a surefire way to win the Buy Box, it can also lead to price wars with your competitors. Discover here how to avoid this.
How to Win the Amazon Buy Box?
Are you wondering how to get the Buy Box? Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do it on Amazon. Winning is never easy, and Amazon is no exception in that regard. There is no clever solution, no Amazon Buy Box trick that allows you to win the orange button without being a formidable seller. There may be one or two Buy Box tricks that increase your chances, but the best way to win it is the traditional way: by outperforming the competition. Here is the Amazon Buy Box explained:
The better you rank, the more you sell.
With the number of sellers and customers constantly increasing, only those with the highest customer satisfaction ratings are preselected. The criteria that ensure customer satisfaction are shown in the Buy Box KPI (Key Performance Indicators) that the online giant collects from sellers’ business activities on the platform. These include, among others, shipping time, order defect rates, and/or return satisfaction.
Those looking to win the “Add to Cart” field must be familiar with every important metric and manage them accordingly. The bar is set quite high here: for example, the defect rate should be as close to zero percent as possible if you want to win the Amazon Buy Box.
Price is also extremely relevant, but is there a correct price for the Amazon Buy Box? There is no definitive answer here because Amazon adjusts the price range for each product. Any seller who exceeds this price range will not be able to win.
It is unlikely that you will win the “Add to Cart” field if your products are too expensive. On the other hand, a higher price can be offset by excellent seller performance, as long as you are within the aforementioned price range. In other words, sellers with a higher price can still be awarded the Buy Box if they have better overall KPIs than the competition.
Key parameters considered by the Amazon Buy Box algorithm
Here is a quick summary: a Buy Box cheat sheet that lists all the aspects that are important for your brand to be in the Buy Box.
1. Order defect rate
Amazon tracks your ODR (Order defect rate) in the short and long term, covering the last four months. Maintaining an ODR of less than 1% is essential if you want to win the Buy Box. Anything above that will make it difficult to place your products in the Buy Box.
2. Stock availability
The Amazon Buy Box will instantly shift to another seller if you do not have the item in stock. That is why it is essential for retailers to maintain healthy stock levels of their best-selling items.
The following rule does not apply when a product is marked as “backorder” and has a note on the product page. When a consumer places a backorder, they do so knowing that the item will not be delivered and will not be available immediately.
3. Total price
Including shipping costs, this term refers to the final cost of a product on Amazon.
Participation in the Buy Box increases as the total price decreases. You can also charge more and maintain your share of the Buy Box if your performance metrics are better than those of your immediate competitors. However, if your rivals have better metrics overall, you will need to lower your prices to maintain the same share of the Buy Box.
4. Delivery time
The time that the seller commits to dispatching the item to the buyer is the most basic metric that the Buy Box considers.
The influence of this parameter on the Buy Box will be even greater for some time-sensitive products and categories, such as perishable goods and birthday cards, where buyers often demand fast shipping.
5. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
The product fulfillment strategy is the factor that has the greatest influence on the Amazon Buy Box.
The easiest way to improve your chances of being in the Buy Box is to use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), as Amazon naturally rates its own fulfillment services very highly – which, to be fair, is true.
That does not mean that Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) sellers cannot outperform FBA sellers; it just makes it more difficult and requires really high scores across all variables, as well as a very low price. Click here to learn more about Amazon FBM, for example, how it works and who it works best for.
6. Customer reviews
Amazon will review the reviews from the last 30 days, 90 days, and 365 days. Your chances of winning a Buy Box are higher if your customer review rating is at least 90%.
How do shipping methods affect the Amazon Buy Box percentage?
Amazon did not become so successful by not listening to its customers, and what customers want is fast shipping. In recent years, the online giant has massively expanded its own logistics service while simultaneously establishing a strong partnership with external service providers like DHL or Hermes. But how can this improve your eligibility for the Amazon Buy Box?
Amazon not only offers its services to buyers but also to its sellers. Fulfillment by Amazon, or Amazon FBA, is a program that – for a certain fee – allows sellers to delegate storage, shipping, and customer service to Amazon, leaving sellers with the most important part of their business: the actual selling.
What are the benefits of this? On one hand, you have more time to expand your business and also – and this is the reason we mention it here – it will increase your chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box. As an FBA seller, you already meet two vital factors that the online giant considers when awarding the popular orange button: impeccable customer service and very reliable shipping. Click here if you want to learn more about Amazon FBA.
Here is a list of the minimum requirements you need to meet:
Can you lose the Amazon Buy Box?
Yes, absolutely. As mentioned earlier, only the seller who gives their best every day of the week can maintain the benefits of the Buy Box. If you get caught slacking, you will indirectly pay by ceding around 90 percent of sales to the new owner. The question is: how do we get it back?
There are situations where the Buy Box simply rotates for no particular reason. Sometimes, the algorithm even awards the Buy Box to sellers who apparently have worse metrics than yours. In fact, sometimes the loss of the Buy Box can even be the fault of another competitor with whom you share the listing.
Here’s how it could happen: You sell gaming headsets and share the popular listing with three other sellers. Due to careful monitoring of all relevant metrics, you have won the Buy Box and are working hard to maintain it. Seller XYZ, on the other hand – one of the other three sellers on your listing – is very unreliable in terms of shipping and customer service. Because of this, they have received several complaints from multiple buyers in recent weeks. Amazon, therefore, decides to suspend the Buy Box for the gaming mouse, resulting in you losing it despite having done everything right.
Your best option is to get up and keep working hard. If your Buy Box share decreases over an extended period, you should investigate the cause and double-check the metrics we mentioned earlier.
Eligibility for the Amazon Buy Box
If you are a new seller, another popular question is how to become eligible for the Buy Box on Amazon and whether a completely new seller can be a Buy Box winner despite just starting to sell. As a general rule, you must have a 90-day sales history as a professional seller to be eligible for the Buy Box, as long as you are not using FBA.
This makes sense in that the requirements needed for an Amazon seller who wants to increase their Buy Box share take time to establish, making it very unlikely – but not impossible – for someone who has just started selling to snatch the Buy Box from other experienced and well-established sellers on the same listing.
Do private label sellers have to fight for the Buy Box?
Unlike resellers, people selling through private label on Amazon do not have to spend most of their time fighting for the Buy Box through price optimization, as they are the only person selling that item. If no one else is selling the same product as you, there is no competition to face. However, this does not mean that there is no competition from sellers who are selling similar products online.
For example, if you manufacture and sell high-quality tennis socks on Amazon, you may not necessarily have someone challenging your Buy Box; however, you will have to compete face-to-face with other sellers who sell durable socks that they manufactured themselves. In addition to this, you will also have to deal with established brands like Nike, Adidas, and Puma. The good news is that there is a way to automate your pricing in this regard as well with a “Cross-product Repricing” strategy.
What to do when Amazon enters the competition?
It is sensible to be realistic at this point. If Amazon is competing with you for its own Buy Box, on its own platform, with its own product (you see where this is going, right?), your chances of winning are not zero, but they are quite slim. However, if you have a formidable seller performance history and are willing to offer a lower price than Amazon, you might have a chance. After all, Amazon is customer-centric to the core. If you can provide the customer with a better shopping experience than Amazon, then they will leave you the Buy Box.
The importance of the mobile Buy Box
Mobile shopping is more popular than ever among Amazon customers. The Buy Box is located directly below the product image on the mobile site, which is different from how it appears on a desktop or laptop. Customers place their order by clicking “Buy now” without looking at the listing page of offers.
Notably, the “Other sellers on Amazon” box is not displayed on the Amazon mobile site. The name of the Buy Box winner is the only thing shown. Another reason to prioritize winning the Buy Box is if you care about reaching mobile shoppers.
Software solutions that will help you win the Amazon Buy Box
In today’s competitive e-commerce landscape, optimizing your prices on Amazon is crucial to staying ahead. The competitive pressure on the platform is high, even when Amazon itself is not competing for the Buy Box. To establish a strong presence, your business must demand a high level of optimization. What value do your Buy Box benefits have if you can only capitalize on them infrequently? A pricing optimization software solution helps you automatically adjust your prices based on various factors such as competitor prices, demand fluctuations, and inventory levels. This ensures that you are always competitively priced, improving your chances of winning the Buy Box, increasing your sales volume, and ultimately maximizing your profitability. Investing in such a solution saves you time and provides data-driven insights, allowing you to make smarter pricing decisions and stay ahead of market trends. That is why certain automation solutions have become essential for achieving success.
The SELLERLOGIC Repricer is one of these tools. Repricers automatically adjust the price of your product based on the current market situation, a task that requires constant monitoring. A good repricing solution works dynamically and intelligently. Instead of setting rigid rules (“always two cents cheaper than the competition”), a dynamic repricer reacts to the current market situation and adjusts the selling price accordingly in relation to your B2B and B2C sales.
Once the product is in the “Add to Cart” field, the repricer sets the highest possible price at which the Buy Box can still be maintained. This way, you can win and maintain the “Add to Cart” field while generating the maximum profit. Click here if you want to know more.
Another essential element for sellers is a solution that detects and reports FBA errors. Why do you need to detect these errors? Mainly because they entitle you to a refund. Amazon FBA sellers have to pay a fee to benefit from the program and, therefore, are entitled to a refund if Amazon does not fulfill its part of the deal and your product is lost or damaged due to an error that occurred in an Amazon warehouse. Our Lost & Found solution detects these errors and allows our customers to recover their money from Amazon. Click here to learn more.
Final thoughts
If Amazon had a Holy Grail, it would be very similar to the Buy Box:
At the end of the day, the algorithm decides how the Amazon Buy Box works and which products are displayed, but sellers can actively influence their chances. For example, the correct shipping method is extremely important to keep up with competitors.
For private label sellers, on the other hand, the Buy Box is not as important. Typically, private label sellers own the “Add to Cart” field with their product anyway. However, never forget that Amazon can always revoke Buy Box privileges even from a private label seller, as happens when sellers have poor performance.
It is also important for sellers to monitor the market situation to win and maintain the “Add to Cart” field. Without constant price adjustments, it is difficult to be competitive, so using a dynamic repricer is not only common but a necessity among Amazon sellers.
The Buy Box is just a term that has evolved and become established for the orange “Add to Cart” field on Amazon. The seller who is “in the Buy Box” is generally the one who makes the majority of the sales, leaving a shy 10% of the sales for other sellers of the product on the same listing.
That varies case by case. Amazon’s diplomatic answer is that, on average, each seller on the same listing should have a similar Buy Box percentage. This means that if you share your listing with two other people, any Buy Box percentage above 33% would be considered “doing well.”
– Low order defect rate.
– Status as a professional seller.
– Good price.
– Excellent customer service.
– Fast and reliable shipping.
Since using Amazon FBA means that your customer service and shipping will be handled by Amazon, two of the criteria mentioned above will already be met, leaving you with more capacity to focus on the remaining three. However, if your customer support and shipping methods are already excellent, then you won’t have anything to gain in that regard by using the Amazon FBA program.
Image credits in order of appearance: © Claudio Divizia – stock.adobe.com / screenshot @ Amazon / screenshot @ Amazon
