According to RepricerExpress, “Almost 83% of sales come from the buy box.” Today, it is the most popular adage used in every seller’s guide. One of the reasons this magical box is so desirable is its ability to boost sales.
This is a brief summary of what awaits you beyond these lines, so let’s start.
Way back, Amazon introduced these innocuous buttons called “buy now” and “add to cart.” Till now, it’s a boon, but there is one catch: it is only available to a few sellers or merchants. Now, with the quest to become the most desirable ones in the marketplace, every seller is on board to capture this feature.
As a seller, you might have thought about what a button can offer. Well, it gives a seller an edge in different shopping methods. For instance, mobile shopping. A trend turned into practice, this method of shopping directly impacts the purchasing habits of a consumer. Currently, more than 83% of customers use shopping apps on their smartphones. Here many sellers take advantage of consumers’ engagement with mobile purchasing. The seller possessing a buy box gets an upper hand as the box is directly under the product display, making it easy for buyers to complete their purchase.
Not only to a seller, but the feature drives value to Amazon too. Amazon played smart by offering a buy box for its profit too. It knows the advantages of this key feature are plentiful, making it a hot talk among sellers. Here, Amazon knows for a fact that a customer directly hits the “add to cart” or “buy now” button without giving much thought to non-buy boxers. Therefore, this common practice accounts for 80% of Amazon sales (credits to Sellers App) so far, and the giant continues to take advantage of this feature.
Image Credit : https://www.buyboxexperts.com/blog/12-reasons-amazon-listing-missing-buy-box-how-get-back/
Put yourself in the shoes of a customer and ask yourself, would you buy the product above? Would you rather go with a product that has a “buy now” option? We all know the answer!
Just because a customer skipped a product doesn’t justify or prove that your product is unworthy. Simply put, this means that you don’t have a buy box or an upper edge on your competitors. Since Amazon’s algorithm awards the buy box to performing sellers, it indirectly also aims to cut the competition for the seller. Here, the one with the buy box is considered the best in its category by customers. The likelihood of your product getting seen, rated, and reviewed increases as a result. Additionally, the product with a buy box gets preference in search engine features such as Google Shopping, which is icing on the cake.
How to win?
Reality check: Amazon’s not omnibenevolent. It thinks twice before awarding sellers with a much-coveted buy box. It has laid down some tough eligibility criteria for sellers to qualify first to be in the race for a buy box. The very first one is to establish yourself as a professional Amazon seller on Seller Central. Now take a deep breath and acknowledge the fact that a buy box rotates and it never remains with you forever. It keeps on circulating to multiple sellers depending on their performance. Therefore, one best way to speed up the buy box eligibility is to follow a few approaches which determine the fate of a seller on Amazon.
In the race to claim the box, many sellers are following these approaches. However, very few succeed, and the ones who do, follow a different path.
This path belongs to the brand aggregators. These in-demand aggregators are the e-commerce surfers who increase the chances of conquering the buy box for the sellers and boost their sales through intelligent approaches, AI-powered technology, and powerful resources. For years, the aggregation model has been a much opted and in-demand among sellers, because let’s agree, you too need a plan, ‘an expert’ to guide, and perform on your behalf.
The following are the much-awaited methods aggregators and sellers can leverage to dominate the Amazon market.
FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon
Amazon prefers to award the buy box to FBA sellers. For its symbolism of prompt delivery without any defects, FBA is the most trusted group of sellers who have a better chance to win a buy box. Sellers can deliver quality products and services without it, but only less than 5% do so. FBA is a popular process, but not every seller gets it right. In such a case, the brand aggregator helps the brand to choose suitable fulfillment solutions. Whether fulfillment through Amazon (FBA), Seller Fulfillment Prime (SFP), or Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), aggregators scan the need of these methods according to their product needs for on-time delivery. Afterward, they coordinate with Amazon to maintain excellent performance metrics.
Fulfillment Quality
Brand aggregators know the fact that Amazon prioritizes a seller on how quickly its products can move. Of course, the fulfillment part is taken care of by Amazon itself, but here a seller also needs to be in action. When fulfillment is taken care of by someone else, there’s a scope for improving and handling all the backend activities to smoothen the process. This is where the aggregator handles all the backend operations. They maintain an accurate order record and are in charge of communicating with Amazon. Additionally, to improve efficiency, they monitor the outputs gained through the fulfillment process. They analyze how much customers are benefited from FBA and can also determine the customer who keeps delivery parameters as their priority. Furthermore, through an aggregator, the shipping process is optimized by ensuring a maintenance of a valid tracking system, efficient shipping, and product demand.
One top fact! Amazon hardly goes beyond FBA and analyses the demand for each product. Fortunately, an aggregator scans the demand, detects best-selling products, newest arrivals, and sub-par performing products, and prepares the support process accordingly to make fulfillment smoother. This helps sellers with an estimate of product’s performance, which they can use to improve their loopholes.
The Price Play
Price slashing is a frequent action every seller performs to win the buy box. Taking advantage of this, Amazon plays smart. With an intent to increase traffic, they set price as a criterion to win the buy box. Here, many e-commerce sellers use different strategies to set prices. They play blind through price skimming and penetration, with a hope to get more checkouts. In contrast, an aggregator focuses more on analyzing product demand, customer response, and price fluctuations by competitors. They opt for AI-enabled tech tools that monitor the changes across the marketplace and set a competitive price for you. By doing this, you will substantially increase your chances of winning the buy box without compromising on the profit margins.
Customer Service
Every marketing success comes down to customer satisfaction. As plain sailing the theory sounds, it turns convoluted when put into action. In a time where chatbots send automated messages, achieving personalized satisfaction is a daunting task. Very ingeniously, aggregators aim and achieve this customer satisfaction by providing a robust customer support system. Since, this important factor weighs heavily in the accomplishment of the buy box, aggregators measure and handle customer satisfaction rate, product review, and complaints very tactfully. This is beneficial as to win a buy box, Amazon tracks the customer response every 90 days and measures customer engagement based on how quickly queries are resolved in 24 hours.
Many aggregators have shifted from automated messages “your query has been recorded” to setting up a personal service saying “I’m here to help.” This key differentiator is what attracts Amazon and leads the way to buy boxes.
Let’s win this
While you sit back and relax, brand aggregators continue their hustle. After a time, getting customers and converting them into clients almost becomes a cakewalk for the sellers. The edge gained over competitors places sellers apart in the marketplace. Through this constant effort and chasing, the buy box becomes a low-hanging fruit for the sellers.
If you think that an aggregator’s role is only up to a buy box, you’re wrong. They’ve just started. With advanced tech and expert resources, aggregators aim to bring ceaseless profits to every top marketplace. They take the command in their hands and elevate the sellers for lifetime growth. That’s the same growth every seller desires along with the taste of success. So, wait no more. Contact the experts now and get ready to ace in the market.
