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~ ChannelEngine ~

THE SECRETS

TO WINNING

THE BUYBOX

IN 2022

Text: Bradley Lengen // Photos: ChannelEngine

When selling via online marketplaces, ‘winning the BuyBox’ is a massive part of any successful
sales strategy. However, at a time when competition among sellers is fiercer than it ever has
been, achieving this brings many unique and often tricky challenges to navigate.

he BuyBox exists across a number of slightly from marketplace to marketplace, but the BuyBox
marketplaces that host multiple sellers share is consistently king—on Amazon, 80%-85% of sales go
Toffering the same product on their platform. through the BuyBox, while BOL it’s as high as 90%-95%.
Sites like Idealo, BackMarket, Mercado libre &
Walmart, and, of course, Amazon all use their own Where once you might have had comparison sites linking
algorithms to decide who appears in the coveted out to multiple retailers, that’s all now combined within
BuyBox space, constantly rating sellers on various the marketplace, meaning you might have 40/50 sellers
performance factors. all competing for that same space, and if you don’t own it,
especially as a reseller, making sales on that product is going
From the price of a product and delivery speed to seller to be incredibly tough.
performance and stock levels, a seller must successfully hit
several criteria to be considered ahead of your competitors. Seller performance: Reputation and speed go a long
way.
Below, we caught up with ChannelEngine CEO Jorrit Steinz A mixture of variables is factored in when sites like Amazon
and VP of Product and Technology Feike Groen to highlight decide which seller appears in the BuyBox for a particular
precisely why the BuyBox is so important and the key product. Generally, these fall into three key overarching
considerations to take when competing for it. categories; seller performance, delivery time, and price.

Why the BuyBox is king As the name suggests, seller performance covers metrics
The BuyBox refers to the purchase area on the right-hand related directly to your reliability as a seller on the
side of the product page, the space where you’re prompted marketplace. This includes things like stock levels, fulfilment
with calls to action like ‘add to cart’ or ‘buy now’ from a scores, number of returns, reviews, on-time delivery, pre-
specific seller. fulfilment cancellations, and customer response times—for
every logistical KPI. There is a set percentage you need to
Unsurprisingly, whichever seller owns the BuyBox takes maintain. If you drop below that, your sales score is negatively
a significant share of sales for that product. Figures vary affected.

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