TRANSCRIPTION

Many people are curious about how selling on Amazon is like. But before we get into the technicalities, sellers-to-be must first familiarise themselves with the various aspects of the Amazon platform. So, in this episode, I shall be sharing about a few of the most common features on the Amazon platform, and what these features mean to both sellers and buyers.


So, first of all, we have the Amazon Buy Box. Now, for those new to Amazon, you may have heard of how fierce the competition is within the sellers for the Amazon Buy Box. However, what is the Buy Box, and how does it affect sales exactly? Let me answer these questions now.


To put it simply, the Buy Box is a feature Amazon uses to help customers select the “best” seller for each product. In this way, things are kept simple for buyers, as only one seller is highlighted for that product. Buyers can make their purchases in the expectation that Amazon has helped them chose a seller who provides a competitive price, with rapid delivery and strong customer service. The Buy Box is located at the top right corner of every Amazon product page, and you won’t miss it for sure – because that’s where you have to press to cart out your items!


The Buy Box works like this: when a customer clicks “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now”, the merchant who is in the Buy Box at that moment automatically wins the sale. Some of you may be quick to notice then – doesn’t it mean that sellers who appear regularly in the Buy Box will gain better sales than other sellers selling the same products? And the answer is YES. Numerous sources have shown that roughly 80% of the orders made on Amazon go through the Amazon Buy Box, and sellers very often recounted that their sales increase dramatically when they are in the Buy Box.


Meanwhile, products that only have one seller will still have a Buy Box, but they do not have to compete with anyone else to win it. This situation applies to private label products sold under their unique brands, and direct-to-consumer brands sold only by the manufacturer or an exclusive partner. As such, many sellers have turned to create their private labels and sell their own products to avoid having to compete for the Buy Box.


So, if you are clear about the Amazon Buy Box, let’s get over to the next common Amazon feature, the Amazon’s Choice.


Now, for those who have shopped on Amazon, you may have seen this little dark “Amazon’s Choice” badge appearing on certain products. In a nutshell, this “Amazon’s Choice” is the same as saying, “Amazon recommends”. It acts as a stamp of approval which helps buyers to immediately see the one product is the “best”, instead of having to click into the individual listings to check out customer reviews.


Amazon’s Choice began as a program to support Alexa, which is Amazon’s self-designed smart voice controller, and its voice-operated devices. It originally served as a means to make shopping possible via these devices, and hence it will just identify one product per search using voice commands. However, it soon grows to surface more and more on the Amazon website and mobile app. The badge appears as a small dark blue box, contrasting strongly with the white background, at the top left corner of product search results. Bold, eye-catching and clearly labelled, this badge is steadily becoming more visible, and it certainly makes the product bearing it more outstanding to Amazon shoppers.


Generally, a product which is selected for the Amazon’s Choice badge will normally be a bestseller in its category, is eligible for Prime delivery and generally has a lower return rate than similar products. So, sellers should aim to satisfy these metrics if they want to enjoy that extra boost in sales brought on by this little badge!


Last, let us move on to two more technical aspects that sellers will be concerned with for their businesses, the Amazon Seller Central, and the Amazon Vendor Central. These two terms refer to the two most common interfaces that sellers interact with as they register for a selling account on Amazon. Saying that, many new Amazon sellers will still be quite confused by the two interfaces – which interface should they choose to use, and what are the differences between them?


Not to worry, I will be going through a summary of these two interfaces now.


Let’s first talk about the Amazon Seller Central. Okay, the Amazon Seller Central is the web interface used by retailers to market and sells their products directly to Amazon’s customers. If you have a Seller Central account, you’re considered a marketplace or third-party seller. As a marketplace seller, you can fulfil your customers’ orders by choosing to handle the shipping, customer service, and returns for each order yourself, or you can allow Amazon to handle this for you by enrolling your products in the Fulfilled by Amazon or “FBA” program.


As for the Amazon Vendor Central, this is the web interface used by manufacturers and distributors. If you sell via Vendor Central, you’re called a first-party seller. You’re acting as a supplier and selling in bulk to Amazon. Take note though, registration on Vendor Central is by invitation only.


Essentially, the difference between the Amazon Seller Central and the Amazon Vendor Central is who will be selling your products. With Seller Central, you are selling directly to Amazon’s customers, while with the Vendor Central, Amazon’s retail team buys and resells your products to their customers.


So now, do you have a better understanding of the various Amazon features? Do stay tuned if you want to know more useful information like these, and I will see you in the next episode.