Amazon Buy Box 10 Commandments

1. Customer Responsiveness ‘The No.1 thing that had made us successful by far is obsessive, compulsive focus on the customer’. Jeff Bezos The biggest tech giant business model is based on a simple concept, “Customer.” In Amazon, how quickly you respond to your customer plays a vital role in winning Amazon buy box. On the contrary, taking too long can adversely affect your buy box. Getting back to your customer within 12 hours is standard practice. Do not be late longer than 24 hours as this would violate Amazon’s policy

2. Fulfillment Method Amazon offers two options for sellers – FBA and FBM. FBA stands for Fulfilment by Amazon, and FBM stands for Fulfilment by Merchant. FBM sellers have a difficult time competing with FBA sellers since Amazon handles the shipping, therefore it will be quicker. FBA sellers also have access to Prime shipping, which is not available to FBM sellers. As a result, orders will be delivered on time. Seller Fulfilled Prime enables you to deliver directly to domestic Prime customers from your warehouse. The Prime badge indicates that you are committed to fulfilling orders with Two-Day Delivery at no additional charge to Prime customers. As a seller Fulfilled Prime (member/seller?), the products are in your warehouse, and you get the exclusive Prime option from your warehouse using Amazon’s approved carriers.

3. Order Defect Rate: This rate is based on a combination of the Negative Feedback Rate, the A-to-Z Guarantee Claim Rate, and the Service Chargeback Rate. The order defect rate is simply the percentage of orders that are defective. The threshold rate for Amazon is 1%. Crossing the above the threshold rate will impact your account and may result in a penalty if it is not controlled. Also, negative feedback will affect your profitability.

4. Delivered on-time rate Delivered on-time rate measures the proportion of orders that are delivered on time. It is important that Amazon sellers aim for at least 97% or higher in order to remain in a safe zone, otherwise, they risk losing their buybox. This metric is based on confirmed tracking information for packages. A failure to meet this rate would not result in suspension but may result in negative feedback and affect the overall health of the account. This, in turn, will affect the overall performance of the account.

5. Valid Tracking Rate The valid tracking rate indicates how often you use tracking information that is valid. Essentially, it is the percentage of deliveries that have tracking information. As an Amazon seller, you should maintain a 95% score or higher, as that may affect your account and overall buybox over 30 days It is possible to maintain a healthy VTR by purchasing shipping labels on Amazon.

6. Cancellation Rate: The cancellation rate is expressed as a percentage of the total number of orders during a seven-day period. The cancellation rate is only applicable to orders fulfilled by sellers. According to Amazon, sellers must maintain a cancellation rate of less than 2.5% to sell on the platform. Over 2.5% may result in the deactivation of seller-fulfilled offers. Your seller’s performance may be negatively affected if you have many canceled orders.

7. Late shipment rate: The percentage of confirmed orders that ship after the expected ship date over a period of 10 days or 30 days. Amazon recommends that sellers maintain a 4% ratio in order to sell on the website. A ratio exceeding 4% may result in account deactivation. This will decrease the likelihood of winning the buybox.

8. Stock Availability:

                                             “The longer you wait, the harder it is to produce outstanding customer service.”

A significant fluctuation in stock levels and going out of stock can be detrimental to your customers. Better inventory management will help you to make a profit consistently and to be available for your customers. When you are out of stock, another seller will capture the BuyBox, and you will lose sales. For this reason, it is advisable to maintain stock levels. By doing so, you will also be able to earn Amazon choice or bestseller badges.

9. Competitive price: A competitive price should be offered. The price should neither be too high nor too low. If you set the price a little lower than your competitors, you might get buybox. This is called Repricing. Consider the following example: if your competitors are charging $40 for a product, you can set your price at $39.99. This may help you get a buy box.

10. Request Reviews: For any Amazon seller, reviews are of paramount importance. A higher number of positive reviews will result in greater buyer confidence. Reviews and five-star ratings will leave your brand’s mark in your customers’ minds. Amazon’s algorithm takes into account a number of factors, including negative and positive reviews as well as the number of reviews received. Therefore, positive reviews and ratings can assist you in winning Buybox.

Conclusion. In conclusion, Amazon Buy Box plays a crucial role in generating sales. Keeping the above factors in mind will increase your chances of winning Buy Box. Monitoring your overall metrics is crucial. Amazon will send you alerts if you’re not doing well. It is good to monitor your performance 24/7 because Amazon’s algorithm is continuously updating. Also, some new metrics like customer dissatisfaction rate and return dissatisfaction rate are here to work on, but right now, there’s no way to confirm if they affect the Amazon Buy Box.