Amazon adds “price comparison” feature to help sellers win the Buy Box

It is understood that Amazon recently announced that it has added a " price comparison " function to its backend , which can increase the chances of a product winning the Buy Box .

The announcement states, “With the new Pricing Status section , sellers can view how their product’s price compares to other prices on or off Amazon in the Price + Shipping section of the Manage Inventory page . Pricing Status will show how the price you set compares to the Featured Offer , Competitive Price , and Lowest Price . Sellers can also choose to match any of these prices by clicking the ‘Match’ button next to the appropriate price. ”

At the same time, Amazon also stated in the announcement that if sellers want to increase their chances of winning the Buy Box, they can consider competitive pricing by setting " your price + shipping cost " to be less than or equal to the competitive price.

Here ’s how Amazon defines these three pricing statuses :

Featured Quotes

The Buy Box is the offer that appears at the top of a product detail page and that customers can purchase immediately or add to their cart. Sellers must meet performance-based requirements , including competitive pricing, to qualify for the Featured Product placement.

Competitive price

The competitive price is the lowest price of the product at other major retailers outside of Amazon. It does not include prices of other sellers on the Amazon platform . To be considered a competitive price, " your price + shipping cost " must be less than or equal to the competitive price.

Lowest Price

The lowest price is based on the seller ’s “ Manage Inventory ” preferences, which allow you to compare offers using variables such as the listing’s condition and shipping method.

However, many sellers believe that this function is a disguised way of lowering the prices of platform sellers, reducing their profits, which is especially disadvantageous to small sellers and start-up sellers. But some sellers also said that online sales will become more and more competitive, and sellers can only survive if they adapt.

It is reported that an Amazon seller tested the new feature using his products (average price $10-$30) and said that if the system is used to match competitive prices, most of his products will lose about $5 each.

Given that the price of a product will directly affect its profit, when sellers choose to use the three price "match" buttons, they must also verify the product's profit in advance to avoid the system matching a lower price, thereby causing unnecessary losses.

Amazon

Price Comparison

Product profit