Using the correct repricing strategies is crucial to succeeding on Amazon. That’s because constant competitor price changes are an inevitable part of selling - Amazon itself changes its prices on the items it sells millions of times each day.
Due to the growing amount of third-party sellers and listed products, repricing strategies have become an essential part of every seller’s business plan. Even when you are the only seller of a specific product, repricing should be part of your core Amazon sales strategy.
Not sure how to get started with automated repricing strategies? Using automated repricing strategies already, but wondering how to optimize them? We’ll cover everything you need to know.
You’ve probably heard the old adage, "don’t work harder when you can work smarter." Amazon repricing manually versus with automation software is a prime example of it at play. Sure, you can manage your repricing strategies manually, either via Amazon Seller Central or with repricing software, but you’d be working much harder than you need to.
The problem with manual repricing is that you have to slog through your listings one at a time. Then, you have to slog through your competitors’ listings one at a time. You have to check boxes, make calculations, and input results.
By manually repricing your items yourself, you run the risk of making human error. Unfortunately, these types of errors can lead to things like you selling your items at a loss or missing your target profit margins.
Some expert sellers will be so blunt as to call manual repricing impractical, if not impossible, with numerous listings. Unless you list ten or fewer items, keeping up with Amazon and all the third-party competition will burn you out very quickly.
The alternative to manual repricing is to use automated repricing software to manage your repricing strategies.
Here’s why many Amazon sellers use automated repricing strategies:
To learn more about the benefits of using automated repricing strategies, check out this article that covers everything you need to know.
Whether you’re new to trying out automated repricing strategies or want to revisit your strategies and improve them, here’s eight repricing strategies that you should consider using to increase your sales and win more Buy Boxes on Amazon.
To avoid any risk of selling items at a loss, you must set minimum prices for your listings. This is essential if you use automated repricing software to ensure that the software doesn’t drop your prices below what you’re comfortable with. Even if you adjust prices manually, keeping track of what the lowest price you’re willing to sell for allows you to adjust your prices with confidence.
The easiest and most effective way to set minimum prices is to do so based on your minimum desired profit — simply put, a profit-based minimum price. Not all automated repricers allow you to do this, but the ones that do make the process of setting bulk minimum prices so much easier.
We strongly recommend setting both minimum and maximum prices. A good repricer lets you set maximum prices which can be used in many scenarios. For example, a seller may choose to jump to their maximum price when competitors drop off of a listing. This grants the opportunity to gain a greater profit margin.
In another instance, when a listing reaches its minimum price, a strategy can have the price go back to the maximum price, essentially “resetting” the price of the listing and causing competitors to raise their prices as well. This helps to ensure that your listings maintain price points that you’re happy selling at, thus increasing your profit margins.
A common misconception about automated repricers is that they drop your price in order to get the sale, but this is simply not true.
The "race to the bottom" can easily be avoided by excluding competition that would drive your prices down. For example, if you’re an FBA seller on a listing, excluding non-FBA sellers with lower seller ratings — which would most likely cause your price to drop — is one way to keep your listing’s price steady while still capturing sales.
Some repricing platforms even allow you to exclude competition based on their number of handling days and whether they’re backordered, which are great settings to have for maximizing profits.
Always include shipping costs in your repricing strategies. Amazon displays listings according to both the shipping and base price of an item, so you want to make sure you are accounting for shipping when adjusting your own prices as well as when monitoring your competition’s prices.
An automated repricer will take your competition’s total prices (including shipping) into consideration automatically when repricing your listings, eliminating tedious manual work.
Consider item condition when setting up your automated repricing strategies. If you sell used goods, be certain that your used price isn’t higher than that of like-new items.
Similarly, make sure you price like-new items higher than those which are merely in good condition. Or, simply choose to compete only with those other items that fall into the same condition type as your own.
When you are the only seller on a listing, it may be tempting to set your own price or disable repricing for that item. However, using a repricer even when you are the only seller on a listing will increase your profit margins by keeping you aware of what the market is demanding, and keep you competitive as soon as competition becomes present.
Some repricers offer specific repricing strategies for private label items and other types of listings that frequently have little to no competition.
The Amazon Buy Box is the most coveted real-estate for an Amazon seller. In order to be eligible for the Buy Box, sellers must make sure several factors — including price — adhere to the Buy Box requirements for a chance to be featured.
Among the top criteria, “landed price” (base price plus shipping), fulfillment method, shipping time, and seller rating must be well established and maintained for the best chances at winning the Buy Box.
Many sellers want to use automated repricing strategies that specifically target the Buy Box. If winning the Buy Box is important for your business, we recommend using an automated repricer that offers a strategy specifically designed to get listings into the Buy Box.
Speaking of the Buy Box, Amazon itself typically obtains the Buy Box when they are a seller on a particular listing. If Amazon is your competitor, you’re automatically under more pressure.
You may be able to price just below Amazon so that potential buyers click on your listing to get that price, or wait for Amazon to sell off all of its stock. When it does, you may be able to seize the Buy Box. It is possible to take the Buy Box from Amazon in almost any category, but you will need to be aggressive with your pricing strategy.
When using automated repricing, you can set your repricing strategy to compete aggressively when the competition is Amazon to give you the best chance at still maintaining sales.
Repricing strategies can be a powerful tool for boosting your sales and increasing your profits. While manual repricing is the route some sellers choose to go, if you’re a serious seller looking to scale your business, manual repricing probably isn’t going to cut it.
By testing out various repricing strategies offered by automated repricers like Informed Repricer, you can easily figure out which strategies help you meet your business goals. You can also rest easy knowing that your prices are being constantly adjusted and optimized to make you as much money as possible.
Informed Repricer is a competitive repricing platform that helps online businesses drive profits using smart algorithms and actionable insights.
