Editor’s Note: Originally published on June 10, 2022, last updated on August 20, 2024.
It’s time to talk about another head-scratcher: Amazon Buy Box percentage. We often get asked questions like “What is a good buy box percentage on Amazon?” or “What’s the Amazon Buy Box Percentage report all about?” So, give us your ears (or your eyes) for a few minutes, and let’s find out how to manage this metric.
Every now and then, we go over some of the most important seller metrics on our blog. One such benchmark is Amazon Buy Box percentage. It relates to the coveted Featured Offer, which has recently gone through some changes, in line with new antitrust laws in Europe.
The European Commission (EC) has tried to make selling on Amazon a more level playing field for sellers in the EU. It prohibited Amazon from prioritizing its own services (e.g., Prime, FBA) when it determines who can compete for the Buy Box. The CMA did the same in the UK. Other regulators may follow suit.
New Buy Box Rules
On some marketplaces, you no longer need the Prime badge to join the Buy Box eligibility pool. Instead, Amazon.com focuses on a professional seller’s performance metrics. Amazon India also refers to product quality and sales volume. But joining the Buy Box pool and winning the Buy Box are two different things.
Once eligible, a seller’s offer must set itself apart through price, product availability, shipping options, and customer service to win the Buy Box. These tie in with product quality, sales volume, and performance metrics, of course. But your choice of fulfillment will affect all of the above anyway.
Also, we know that the decisions of the EC and the CMA will be enforced for several years, but there is confusion as to when they came into effect. So, some Buy Box glitches were attributed to them. But rather than dwell on these unknowns, let’s concentrate on the facts and figures.
Today, we’ll try to explain what the Amazon Buy Box Percentage report means in light of these changes. We’ll reveal what is a good Buy Box percentage on Amazon, and show how to increase it. We’ll also focus on BuyBoxBuddy, our newest and most hands-off repricer, hands down.
Buy Box Percentage is nothing more than a seller metric. It relates to page views and can be an indication of sales potential. But it’s not a performance metric, per se. It doesn’t carry any real weight with Amazon, meaning that it won’t trigger a suspension on its own.
In very simple terms, Amazon Buy Box percentage shows how many times you have the Buy Box when buyers check your listed item’s product page, out of all the times this active listing is viewed. So, you could think of it as Amazon’s way of quantifying a Featured Offer’s popularity.
How is Buy Box Percentage Calculated?
Buy Box percentage is the number of times you owned the Buy Box when customers viewed the listing, divided by the total number of page visits. We know that it only works with active listings. It can yo-yo during campaigns. Also, it’s entirely dependent on Buy Box ownership.
Amazon calls it “Featured Offer %” (fmly “Buy Box Wins”). There are 2 separate values for it in Seller Central. One is for your Buy Box percentage over the last 2 days, and there’s another one that spans a 30-day period. The first comes with a handy little trend arrow icon.
What is a good Buy Box Percentage on Amazon?
There’s no such thing as a universally accepted standard for Buy Box Percentages. Aside from issues like seasonality, fluctuations due to advertising campaigns, and category-specific variations, the Amazon Buy Box percentage also varies from one listing to the next.
As shown on the Seller Forums, some sellers do well when the Featured Offer % is as low as 2%-5%. Others can only expect decent sales at 15%. Rather than compare rates, sellers can make a note of their optimum percentage for their desired sales level and try to keep it that way for as long as possible.
The Buy Box Percentage Report: R.I.P.
To make informed decisions based on Buy Box Percentage, you should first know what this metric is at all times. In our blog post titled “Amazon Buy Box FAQ”, we briefly mentioned the Amazon Buy Box Percentage Report in Seller Central.
There was a time when you would have reached it from the Pricing Health dashboard under Pricing in Seller Central, as shown in this tutorial (at 5:52). Or you simply clicked on the Featured Offer table shown in the previous screenshot. But as we suggested in the FAQ post, the report didn’t last long.
How to increase Buy Box Percentage
Buy Box percentage depends on two factors: Buy Box ownership and page views. The latter is easily improved by investing in advertising campaigns. But the best way to improve your Buy Box Percentage is by boosting ownership.
The more you own the Buy Box, the more likely it is that a buyer will view your offer while you own it. There are countless ways to do so, and they relate mostly to Buy Box eligibility, pricing, fulfillment, and account health. Here are 10 simple solutions:
Lower the item’s price if your Buy Box percentage is high but you’re not selling enough. This will affect your Total Price, which is a key factor in determining who wins the Buy Box.
Raise the price if your Buy Box percentage is high but your profits are too low. Only make incremental changes to your price and test the effects they have on sales and metrics before settling on a price.For listings that aren’t very productive regardless of Buy Box percentage, consider investing in advertising on Amazon until buyers get a taste for your products. Always keep sufficient stock to avoid losing the Buy Box and letting your percentage plummet.Make sure your listings are active at all times so that you don’t miss out on Buy Box rotation. If you’re sticking to MFN, offer free shipping and several shipping options.Keep an eye on the 10 Amazon performance metrics that affect Buy Box eligibility.Check your listings often so that you don’t cause Amazon policy violations by mistake.Do your best not to fall victim to hijacked listings and other black-hat tactics.If your customer support for MFN and SFP orders isn’t up to par, consider switching to Customer Service by Amazon.
How does BuyBoxBuddy display Buy Box Percentage?
The Buy Box Percentage metric is useful, but it has its limitations. For one thing, you can’t control how many page views a listing has. So, if your product is often mistaken for a trending item, you might end up thinking there’s something wrong with your product page when there isn’t.
Secondly, the Buy Box gets passed around every few minutes. Without a repricer that shows you not only Buy Box analytics but also sales charts, you can miss out on important information. For instance, you might not:
spot a competitor’s pricing patterns.own the Buy Box at the time of day when most buyers like to buy that specific item.notice that specific price changes lead to the same sales results.
BuyBoxBuddy can address these and many other issues. As explained on our SmartLists help pages, BuyBoxBuddy calculates your actual ownership rates over the last 24 hours. So, it focuses on ownership rates, not page views.
This means it can weed out window shoppers and trend seekers from your reports, focusing strictly on how long you own the Buy Box. So, using BuyBoxBuddy to track your Buy Box Percentage is not only the faster and more reliable way to access this information in real time, but also the smarter alternative.
Also, since it groups listings into SmartLists, each with a different ownership rate, it enables you to spot missed opportunities right away. This makes it easier for you to choose pricing strategies, test them, and automate them once ready. For instance, you might want to:
Set up a replenishment schedule for items on the SmartList showing Buy Boxes Owned 100% of the time.Work on your performance metrics to have better chances at the Buy Box for items on the Owned 55%-99% list. Set up more aggressive pricing strategies for items in the cluster called Owned 1%-49%. Check listings from top to bottom for items on the Owned 0% list.
There’s much more to BuyBoxBuddy than meets the eye. To prove it, we’re offering readers the chance to take it for a spin for free, no questions asked. So, if you want to find out what is a good Buy Box percentage on Amazon for your products, and how to increase your Buy Box percentage without even trying, we have the answer right here.
If you’re a US seller, subscribe for free today, and enjoy 20 years’ worth of Amazon selling experience distilled into a single, self-sufficient, set-and-forget type of software.
Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed.
The post Important Amazon Business Metrics Explained: Buy Box Percentage appeared first on SellerEngine.