What is BSR in Amazon: A Seller’s Guide

It’s not advisable to enter a marketplace and not know anything about it. If you are to use Amazon as a platform to sell your products, you need to know the exact process of selling them successfully. One of your targets as a seller should be the top spot in Amazon bestsellers rank. A high Amazon ranking means your business is getting more sales than your competitors.

But what is the exact BSR meaning? Can it affect your returns on investment? How can you use it to your advantage? How can you top the rank and end up with a feature on Amazon’s product best seller product page?

What Is BSR on Amazon?

Buyers always want to know how to find Amazon best sellers, and merchants, in turn, want to become highly rated and in demand. In other words, it is their primary goal. So, BSR on Amazon means sales success.

For example, your product is tenth in the sales rankings on Amazon. What does it mean? Nine products in the same category overtake you.

There is no overall BSR Amazon score, only for each category. So, for instance, if your product belongs to “Beauty” and “Home Products,” you have two BSR indicators.

Amazon’s bestseller ranking has one more name – Amazon Sales Rank. These terms should be of fundamental importance to anyone looking for Amazon business.

An Introduction to Amazon Rankings

Amazon uses an algorithm that determines the seller’s rank on the platform. A product’s Amazon ranking can be seen on the product’s detail page. Product ranks are usually listed according to their categories. There is a top-level category (e.g., Books), a subcategory (e.g., Children’s Books), and sub-subcategories (e.g., Growing Up & Facts of Life). The Amazon algorithm usually pays attention to the multiple top-level categories when the rank is calculated. Figuring out how to operate on the platform without experience may be a real problem, especially when it’s a narrow subcategory. Check out selling used books online tips and much more to become a real pro in the niche.

Amazon product ranking is updated hourly; the rank depends on the recent number of sales of the product and your historical sales by other products within the same category. Of course, the sellers’ list differs from one Amazon store to another. For instance, the Amazon book sales calculator may have detected that your ranking is #1 on Amazon.co.uk but #25 on Amazon.com. You can see the top 100 products on the Amazon BSR page.

The #1 rank meaning is that your product has been recently sold more than any products within your category on the specific Amazon store. It is to say that picking your niche is important as you need to consider your competitors to gain the top spot in the Amazon sales rank.

How Is Amazon BSR Rank Calculated?

Amazon BSR calculator considers the product’s number of orders compared to other products in the same category within a specific amount of time. The best-selling product in a category will get the BSR #1 spot. How can you get a high ranking?

If it’s your first time on Amazon, you might find it difficult to find your way to the top. Luckily, we have analyzed huge amounts of data to understand how BSR works. The following are the basic things that you need to know about Amazon product ranking:

• New items without sale do not have Amazon rankings yet.
• For a new product, the rank is calculated about 2-3 hours after the first sale.
• The calculation relies heavily on recent sales but also takes into account historical sales or sales per day.
• Some product listings don’t have their ranking and only depend on their parent ASIN.
• Amazon’s bestseller ranking heavily depends on the product’s conversion rate, the number of orders, and the unit.
• It is possible to rise in the ranking quickly, but it’s also possible to lose your ranking and plummet.
• The BSR of each product is re-calculated hourly. It’s nearly impossible to stay in the same spot for 24 hours.

What Determines Amazon Best Sellers Rank?

Amazon doesn’t reveal its exact formula for calculating Best Sellers Rank. According to the eCommerce platform, it uses a product’s recent and historical sales to generate its Best Sellers list every hour. A few other factors, however, influence your BSR. Learn more about what determines your Amazon Best Sellers Rank now:

Category

Your category influences your BSR because it’s a comparative metric. If you categorize your product (say a portable charger) as “Electronics” versus “Cell Phones & Accessories,” that will directly shape your Best Sellers Rank. Depending on the number of products, as well as the search intent behind those categories, you may earn a higher or lower BSR.

Sub-category

Like your product category, your product sub-categories also shape your Amazon Best Sellers Rank. As it’s challenging to earn a top spot in category Best Sellers lists, due to the number of products, it’s often easier for sellers to compete in sub-category Best Sellers lists. These lists are more specific, which can help you top the charts, especially if you sell a product that exactly matches that sub-category.

Sales frequency

Frequency is another data point that determines your BSR. Amazon admits to looking at this data point. How frequently your product sells directly correlates to its popularity. If people are buying your product at a rapid rate (think what happens when a new gaming console or smartphone comes out), it demonstrates the popularity and demand for your item.

For a steady Best Sellers Rank, companies must maintain the momentum of the frequency of their sales.

Sales history

Amazon also looks at your product’s sales history. While brand-new products can top the Best Sellers list, Amazon will often prefer products with a consistent sales history. These aren’t one-hit wonders, but consistent products that perform (and sell) over time. Products that fluctuate in sales will often struggle to maintain a low (or good) Best Sellers Rank.

Sales recency

While Amazon cares about a product’s selling history, it gives precedence to the most recent sales. A high-selling product, even if it’s brand-new, can dominate the Best Sellers list because it is selling. People are buying it, and they’re buying it fast, demonstrating that the product is popular and in demand by shoppers.

Recency, however, must also balance with frequency. A brand-new product may dominate the Best Sellers list for a week, but as sales and demand decrease, it will drop in BSR because its sales frequency contrasts its past performance. Even though the product may still sell well for the seller, it’s not selling like it did, which can lead to a poor BSR.

How Important Is BSR?

It’s one thing for sellers to know about Amazon rankings, but it’s another for buyers to consider in deciding their purchase.

We know that customers put importance on the reviews of the product. You can consider our guide if you’re wondering how to get Amazon product reviews. In many surveys, more than 80% of shoppers consider reviews in their purchasing decision. However, will they take into account the sales rank of Amazon? Most of them probably don’t even look at the product detail box. Will they type bestseller products in the search results? Perhaps. However, they’re more likely to prioritize the star rating than your ranking.

In fact, according to many experts, one should not put too much attention on BSR as it will not help you move up in the SERP. Because sellers focus on the SERP results, increasing your organic traffic is the best way you can gain traffic.

If this is the case, why should you focus on getting a good sales rank on Amazon?

Amazon rankings may or may not increase your visibility when customers are in a product search. However, it will inform you about how well your product has been selling in the last few hours and the past. That is, you don’t use “free sales” as a tactic to boost your profile. Technically, “free sales” will not improve your financial gains.

You can use BSR as a way to monitor the health of your product. Is it improving? Are you getting more sales? Usually, your BSR aligns with the number of reviews you get and your product’s standing on Amazon.

If you plan to explore a new niche or release a new product, you can look at the current BSR of the specific category. It will answer how many units have been sold each month. Thus, you can determine whether or not the niche is profitable enough.

What Is the Difference between Amazon’s Best Sellers Rank and Organic Ranking?

In fact, according to many experts, one should not put too much attention on BSR as it will not help you move up in the SERP. However, since buyers focus on the SERP results, you can gain traffic by increasing organic traffic.

More specifically, organic ranking depends on the keywords that define your product. Therefore, it depends on where the product will appear in the search results on the platform. BSR and organic rating are not interdependent. 

However, securing high SERPs using keywords can affect your rankings in the long run.

Tips to Improve Amazon Bestsellers Rank

A lot of people find BSR confusing and unreliable. However, it’s still the best way to estimate if the niche you’re planning to go into is worth it.

Now that you know that you can take advantage of Amazon’s Best Seller Ranking to analyze your niche’s success rate, it pays to give more attention to how it works. It’s easy to understand if you spend a minute studying it. Here are essential things that you should learn if you want to improve your BSR:

1. A quick spike in sales does not affect your BSR in the long term.

As mentioned, the Amazon BSR formula weighs recent sales. However, it also uses a predictive formula that favors the stability of the sales rather than just a dramatic surge of sales over a short span of time. In other words, it will be hard to cheat on Amazon’s algorithm by buying your own products. One seller has tried it, and it has worked. However, success does not last long. It quickly fades away as your competitors’ listings take over.

It’s better if you launch a product over a week or month so that Amazon can collect consistent historical data that will help them make predictions about your future sales.

2. Your sales rank is relative.

When your product grows in ranking, it means that you have displaced other products which were previously on the list. However, it also means that there’s a possibility that other products will take your current ranking. Thus, you need to maintain traffic to your listing and make consistent sales. You can use BSR as a way for you to monitor your conversions and stay on top of the competition.

Besides, using the Manufacturing Part Number positively affects your rating as a seller. It helps your clients make the right choice from the very first attempt and minimize costly returns that have an impact on your reputation.

3. Your reviews and ratings do not matter.

When we said that your BSR is usually in line with the number of reviews you get and your product standing in Amazon, we do not mean to say that your reviews and standing are part of the BSR calculation. It only means that if you´ve gotten more reviews and high standing, it implies that you have a good record of historical sales, which directly affects your BSR. It only means that if you get Amazon reviews and high standing, it implies that you have a good record of historical sales, which directly affects your BSR.

4. Increase in sales does not always mean an increase in your BSR.

Because your sales rank is relative, an increase in your sales does not necessarily mean an increase in your BSR. What if your sales have increased but so does your competitors’ sales? Let’s say that it is Mother’s day and people are going to Amazon to buy gifts, e.g. accessories, for their moms. This means that all accessory sellers will experience a sudden increase in sales.

What really matters is that you have outsold all other sellers in the same category. If you and another competitor have the same number of sales within an hour, Amazon will then take into account your previous sales to determine both of your rankings.

5. Sales of your product will not immediately reflect on the BSR.

Amazon has confirmed that they calculate the Bestsellers Rank every hour. However, there are times when there’s a lag in the increase in sales. Thus, the updated ranking is delayed. This lag usually only lasts for about 2 to 3 hours.

Though it’s not clear exactly how many products are ranked hourly, one survey on WebProNews found that in the books category alone, 10,000 books undergo ranking calculation every hour.

6. You need to start small in order to show growth.

If your aim is mainly to rank high, then it might not be advisable to experience high sales on the first day of your product release. Why? It will be difficult to top it the next day. It is better if you have low sales on the initial release and an improving sales on the following days. You should also take into consideration the possibility that your sales will fluctuate as compared to other products in the same category.

Helping You Improve Your Sales

So how do you use this knowledge to improve your sales? Because Amazon Best Sellers Rank is volatile, if you are to use an accurate sales estimation tool, it should take into account the fluctuations in BSR. But, of course, if you want to improve your sales, it’s not enough that you monitor your BSR; you also need to put more effort into marketing your products.

It’s easy to get excited about improving your Amazon ranking and waste money to fulfill the goal. For instance, you can offer your products at a great discount. Sure, you’ll have higher sales. However, exactly how much are your returns on investment? Your goal should be to drive organic sales and better future sales.

One effective way to improve your sales is by gathering positive product reviews. The more reviews you have, the better your edge against competitors. In addition, reviews can increase your visibility to customers and allow you to drive more traffic to your product page.

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