Sellers often ask: “My BSR ranking dropped from 10,000 to 20,000, what should I do?” “My product ranking is around 20,000, and I only get one or two orders a day. Should I give up or continue to build it?” In daily operations, small category rankings are more worthy of attention than large category rankings. Let’s sort out these concepts first.
BSR is the abbreviation of Best Sellers Rank. It is the ranking of the sales volume of each product in a period of time (updated hourly) by the Amazon system. The main basis of BSR ranking is the sales volume in the recent period of time. However, under the Amazon A9 algorithm, sales volume is not the only factor. For example, if two sellers have exactly the same sales volume and order quantity in the same period of time, the historical sales data, number of reviews and star ratings, and conversion rate of the product will be summarized, which will affect the BSR ranking of the product together. In addition, if the sales volume of one product is a normal dispersed order, with only one or two products sold in each order, while the sales volume of another product is a batch order, such as a buyer buying 100 items at a time, in this case, the dispersed purchase product may have a higher BSR ranking even if the total sales volume is small.
What is the relationship between the major category ranking and the minor category ranking?
Open any product with sales, and the system will generally calculate two BSR rankings for it. The ranking displayed at See Top 100 belongs to the BSR ranking under the first-level category, which we usually call the major category ranking, and the BSR ranking of the sub-category node below is called the minor category ranking. The ranking of 20,000 mentioned in the seller inquiry example at the beginning of this section refers to the major category ranking.
Why do we emphasize that from the operational level, it is more meaningful to focus on the ranking of small categories than the ranking of large categories? The reason is that for every seller, our competition is ultimately a competition within a stock market. For example, I sell chopsticks and you also sell chopsticks. We face the same consumer group and only then will we form a competitive relationship. This competition is reflected in the operation, that is, to see whose small category ranks higher.
A seller selling chopsticks and a seller selling pressure cookers, because their products are both kitchen supplies, they will have their own large category rankings under the first-level category of kitchen supplies. However, consumers who buy chopsticks may not need pressure cookers at the moment. If the overall market demand for chopsticks is large, the ranking of chopsticks in the large category may be far ahead of the ranking of pressure cookers in the large category. In this sense, the ranking of large categories does not have much reference value for the planning and adjustment of operational strategies. If you pay too much attention to it, it may affect the mentality of operation due to the large fluctuation of the ranking of large categories in a certain period of time, resulting in misjudgment in operation and adding more anxiety.
When we realize that competition is competition within the stock market, and that as a seller of chopsticks, our competitors are only other sellers selling chopsticks, we should focus on the analysis of small category rankings and the analysis of competing products in the small category ranking list.
To operate well, you don’t have to create absolutely perfect products. After all, we have no way to define what a perfect product is, but your products should at least perform better than your competitors’ products, including product details, prices, reviews, etc. This is the focus of our evaluation in operation. To do these analyses and evaluations well, we need to start with the ranking of small categories.
The focus on the ranking of small categories is helpful for us to do competitive product analysis, so does the ranking of large categories have no meaning for sellers?
Of course not.
For sellers, you should think about the ranking of large categories from the following aspects.
In the product selection stage, if a product ranks higher in the large category, it means that the sales volume of the product is large, the market capacity is large, and there is enough room for development.
When comparing products, if two products in the same large category are both hot-selling products in small categories, then the product at the top of the large category has a larger market capacity.
In operation, if you find that the sales of your product have declined but the ranking of the small category has not changed, and its ranking in the large category has dropped significantly, then it means that the product has entered the off-season, and vice versa. Based on the above analysis, after clarifying the relationship between the ranking of large categories and small categories, you can refer to the ranking of large categories to evaluate the market capacity in operation, and refer to the ranking of small categories to target competitors, so as to achieve the purpose of formulating and adjusting operation strategies in a targeted manner. Only in this way can operations be done with ease.