Understanding Amazon’s All Powerful A9 Search Algorithm
You hear it everywhere. How the best content and optimization strategies can really help brands stand out against online competition. It’s true, they can. But when it comes to the millions of competing brands, businesses and storefronts on Amazon, only one thing drives sales, Amazon’s own A9 algorithm. Here’s why it matters – as well as the steps you should take to get your business ready to take advantage of its impact.
The A9 algorithm powers all search on Amazon. It’s responsible for delivering relevancy to every visitor. That means the right products to the right consumers at the right time, every time. Not a small task, but this one role is the key to winning the Amazon search bar – and search is unquestionably the foundation of all success on the platform.
Why? 74 percent of consumers that are ready to buy go to Amazon first, 90 percent of every Amazon purchase starts with search and 63 percent of clicks land on the top three search results of page one. So if you’re building an Amazon sales strategy, or reviewing your current plan, it all starts here. Your entire online presence, regardless of content, regardless of optimization, must at minimum deliver exceptionally well on search.
Build Strong Foundations for Everything You Do
Think about your business as a pyramid. At the top are the more complex functions including search, SEO and Amazon storefront strategies, but underpinning all of that are critical, foundational and operational processes. If these fail, your business will never succeed. Build strong foundations by examining everything. Is your organization well funded for growth and the long run? Do you have a sound pricing strategy? Are you executing flawlessly on essential processes such as inventory management and distribution? A Grocery Manufacturers’ Association study highlights $22 Million in lost sales nationally due to out of stock products and the fact that 32 percent of consumers buy a different brand when stocks run out. The best search, content, and optimization in the world can’t sidestep an empty shelf.
Strategic Assortment and Fulfillment Planning is Critical
Consumers react to the experience. And they come back if the experience is good. If your goods aren’t organized for optimal search and if they don’t look good on the page, if you’re not using the right images and the whole encounter takes more than a few clicks, you’re losing business for sure. Optimizing the consumer interaction with your product offerings comes down to strategic assortment planning: are your goods or products presented and arranged in a logical manner, do product type pages easily click through to more detailed variation type pages, are the right search terms built into short, impactful product display copy?
31 percent of customers now make a purchase based on Prime availability so it’s essential to back all of this with stellar fulfillment from the moment a consumer clicks order.
Top of the Pyramid
Get all of this done well and its time to move on to enhanced traffic generation strategies, SEO campaigns and building the best storefront for your brands and customers to create that exceptional customer experience and drive sales volume. This requires a constant process of flawless execution, data analysis and course correction as needed, but when done well, you can expect anywhere up to an 80 percent improvement in sales.
Talk to a Channel Key consultant today for more information on our programs and services to get you started.
