Baseball season is almost upon us, and as we all know, baseball is a game of statistics. A recent trendy stat is called W.A.R – Wins Above Replacement. Considered important by some, to others it’s just a fancy-looking stat, that means little for the bottom line.
When it comes to succeeding as an Amazon seller, you want to know as much as possible about Amazon resources that can help get you ahead of the competition. You probably heard of Amazon Best Seller Ranking – BSR.
What is BSR, and is it the most important Amazon analytic measurement? Or is it simply eCommerce’s version of W.A.R – sounds fancy, but won’t mean much for your bottom line? Let’s find out.
Amazon BSR is a rank assigned by Amazon to a product, based on its performance against competitors from the same category. The product is ranked in a primary category, and sub-categories. For example, if you sell a mixing bowl, its BSR could be as follows:
#455 in Kitchen & Dining; # 48 in Kitchen & Dining > Bakeware > Baking tools > Mixing Bowls; #157 in Kitchen & Dining > Kitchen & Gadgets.The rankings are updated hourly.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank (BSR) Explained
Amazon BSR displays a product’s Amazon product ranking in its category and sub-category. The Sales Rank interval can be between 1 and 1 million+. A higher number means you are not getting a lot of sales while smaller numbers show that your product is selling well.
Remember, though, that BSR in one country is not the same in others. The rankings in Amazon France or Amazon UK will probably be entirely different than the BSR in Amazon US.
How Important is a Product’s Amazon Best Sellers Rank?
BSR is not the most important factor for sellers. If you thought a BSR would generate more sales for your products – it’s just the opposite: more sales will get you a higher BSR rank. Although Amazon BSR can indicate how well a product is selling overall, it doesn’t always specify how well a product is selling within a group of similar products by the top Amazon sellers. Bearing in mind that BSR values change by the hour, it’s not the most reliable factor to predict sales, but it is the best when it comes to comparing inventory numbers, reviews, fulfillment types, etc.
How can BSR benefit Amazon sellers?
BSR has importance, especially for beginning sellers, as it can show them more or less how their product is doing vs. the competition. Also, the lower the rank, the better, and it can give an idea if their original presentation of the product was appealing enough, or the seller needs to make changes (add/replace images), tweak prices, adjust produce keywords, etc.
BSR is calculated differently in different Amazon marketplaces
Each marketplace will have its own listing in its own language. This means reviews, seller feedback, keyword ranking, follow up emails and customer service in different languages as well. Every Amazon marketplace has its own BSR calculation, so, for example, if your men’s sunglasses is #157 in that category in Amazon USA, it could easily rank #504 or 85 in Amazon UK or Amazon Fr. A rank of #1 means that the product has recently sold more than any other product in that category, in that particular marketplace.
What is important to remember, however, is that increased overall sales don’t necessarily mean increased BSR ranking, precisely because recent sales are given more weight.
Which Factors Impact Your Amazon Best Sellers Rank?
While the exact formula Amazon uses to calculate it’s BSR (in all marketplaces) is known only to Amazon, what is known is that more recent sales have a positive impact on it. For example, if you and your competitor sold the same quantity of the same product, but you sold it this past week while he did so the week before – you’re product will rank higher. And if your product slumps in sales for more than 2-3 days, it will drop in the ranking.
How to Improve Amazon BSR?
If your product sells in the same amount as your competitors, it won’t rise up in the ranking; your product needs to perform better than its counterparts in the category to climb up BSR. When it comes to BSR algorithm, it is designed to better rank items that have a slow, but steady increase in sales, than those that have a lot of sales on their first day, only for them to drop suddenly the next.
There are a number of ways to improve BSR ranking on Amazon:
- Identify and use the most relevant Amazon keywords on your product’s page
- Adapt the language you use to be optimized for the local market
- Update the product description – bullet points are an added plus, along with HD images
- Get found by Prime members
- Post answers to common questions
- Find specific niche categories, where you can make your product stand out
- Find products with a higher cost, and position yours as a ‘choice’ product
- Seasonality – if your product is seasonal (like Christmas decorations, beach towels or camping gear) make sure these products match the season in the marketplace you’re selling
All this, of course, is in addition to your other Amazon efforts, such as garnering positive reviews, SEO, etc.
The Added Advantage of Algopix
Good best sales rank requires good sales – on a consistent basis. A lot of sales in a short time will get you ranked at the top for a short while, but like a marathon runner, if you start out too fast and are not consistent, you’ll drop far back very quickly. And making sure you get sales requires a bit of research as to which products are best to sell, and in which Amazon marketplaces. Since product research and the time you invest doing it, can go far in improving your BSR ranking, Algopix can help Amazon sellers determine in what marketplace they would be better off selling their products. Thanks to robust product research & analysis, sellers can save time, effort and money, focusing on marketplaces with the most potential for their products.
