Winning the Buy Box on Amazon doesn’t have to catch you off guard. Even though the finer nuances of Buy Box eligibility continue to be a mystery even to the most seasoned Amazon sellers, some aspects are blatantly clear.
Read on, and get a fresh, new perspective on Buy Box rotation.
Amazon Buy Box Rotation Revealed
We covered some of the basic pricing scenarios last month, and now we’d like to turn our attention to Buy Box rotation, rounding off the Amazon Buy Box series.
Is there really such a thing as an Amazon Buy Box rotation? The answer is a resounding ‘Yes’. Buy box rotation is real, complex and elusive. While we may not be able to fully grasp its subtleties, there are a few aspects that are easy to understand and leverage to ensure we maximize our chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box.
The question on every seller’s lips is ‘How can I end up on the roster?’, and our answer to that is ‘How do you reprice’? Because while your seller performance metrics may take a while to improve, your price can be changed in an instant with Sellery.
So, let’s get right down to it, and see how that would work, shall we? What is it that we know about the Buy Box? To begin with, it can depend on the price. As the graphs below, courtesy of Emin, will show that’s not all there is to it.
First Scenario: Simple Buy Box Rotation
Fig1. The price is limited by MAP, and there are few FBA sellers with matching and unchanged prices throughout
How this affects you:
- Buy box switches from one seller to another even without price changes.
- Buy box is shared proportionately, so how often you win it depends mostly on the competition’s performance.
Second Scenario: Complex Amazon Buy Box Rotation
Fig2. Sellers practice various pricing tactics
How this affects you:
- Buy box rotation tends to favor one price point over all others (in this case, you, in red).
- You will aim to set your price as high as possible without tilting the odds in favor of your competition.
Third Scenario: Complex Amazon Buy Box Rotation & Price War
How this affects you:
- Buy box rotation is fast, and tends to favor one seller over all others (notice lowest offer on graph).
- Sometimes there really is a “favorite”. In such cases, even if other sellers also grab the Buy Box every now and then, it’s best to focus on beating the favorite and stealing their place. Also, in such cases overcutting their price may not be the best strategy.
With all this in mind, you may wish to revise your pricing strategy, or at least upgrade your toolbox. Should that be the case, we’re standing by at SellerEngine with a software suite that’s bound to tick all the right boxes. Drop us a note at sales@SellerEngine.com, and let’s see how we can make your business better!
This concludes our Amazon Buy Box series, but we hope to be able to bring similar material for you on this topic or others of your choice soon. We’re open to suggestions, and we welcome your input.
Iulia is one of SellerEngine’s Repricing Experts. She takes pride in being kind and helpful and goes by the saying ”sharing is caring”.