With a worldwide product range of 12 million items, Amazon holds the title of the biggest online marketplace globally. However, when factoring in the contributions of third-party sellers on the platform, the inventory expands to a staggering 350 million products. Naturally, managing inventory of such a colossal scale demands significant effort.
To make it easier, Amazon makes the use of nodes, which involves a hierarchy or ranking-based system through which users can search for their chosen items. These are called browse nodes. These numerical codes play the role of identifying specific product categories on Amazon, allowing customers to explore various brands and products under the category, such as books, toys, skincare products, snacks, clothing, etc. Today, there are well over 30,000 such categories, each with a unique browse node or node ID.
Browse nodes use common characteristics to categorize products and simplify a customer’s browsing experience when shopping. For online retailers, it is a must to use browse nodes in order to reach their customers, whereas for shoppers, it is a means to find all the possible options under the product category they’re currently browsing.
How are browse nodes structured?
Browse nodes are structured in a tree-like hierarchy, i.e., the Browse Tree Guide. The top-level category is the most general node and contains the most number of products – aptly named the root node. Under it are sub-categories such as branch nodes and leaf nodes, which become more and more specific to the product category.
The following example of our customer Paragon Footwear shows how product categories are displayed through specific paths.
If a customer is looking for footwear, they can use the node ID Footwear to explore Amazon’s inventory. They can also continue to get more specific under this node with Men’s Shoes, Slippers, etc. At the back-end, these nodes are stored as numerical codes. However, customers on Amazon can only see the category path when using the platform. Using the above example, a customer would normally see a browse node path like this: Shoes & Handbags > Shoes > Men’s Shoes > Flipflops & Slippers
How are browse nodes beneficial to businesses?
The importance of an accurately detailed product category assignment can seem miniscule at first, but it has many cascading advantages for your online business.
- By ensuring detailed browse nodes, you ensure that your products have improved bestseller rankings. With more specific product category nodes, such as kits, gifts, etc., you have greater chances of receiving the bestseller label. Here’s an example of our client Maharishi Ayurveda that received the Bestseller tag.
- For customers who aren’t looking for specific brands when browsing for products, you can take advantage of browse nodes to attain more page views and impressions, and boost chances of a sale.
How can businesses use browse nodes strategically?
Browse nodes aren’t just for directing your customers the right way. You can use these to your advantage for many other purposes. Here are three main reasons you should optimize your product listings on Amazon browsing nodes.
- Boost your chances of sales
Owing to Amazon’s hierarchical structure, customers can search for products and fine-tune their search with specific categories or sub-categories. As a seller, it is vital for you to choose the right browsing node to boost your chances of a sale. The more specific and detailed you get, the better your chances of a sale. On the flip side, if any of your products are listed in the wrong category, this can affect your ratings, sales, purchase bounces, and returns. What’s more, your product can become difficult to trace when a customer is browsing, further affecting your visibility and sales.
- Determine how many competitors you have
If the product category you’re leveraging has many other competing products, your chances of standing out can reduce drastically, in turn affecting income and sales. That’s why it’s doubly important to search your competition in the product categories of your choice and develop a sales strategy that gives you the edge.
- Make the best use of bestseller ranks (BSR)
Just like your business, profit should be the key driving force behind choosing the type of products and product categories you want to sell under. Owing to the constantly changing landscape of your competition, some categories are more rewarding than others. If a certain category has fewer competitors, it means that you’re more likely to succeed as a seller. Tweaking your browsing nodes to give your business the advantage will offer better opportunities for promotions and sales.
Ready to get started? Get the experts on your side!
When it comes to ecommerce execution, Tenovia’s Marketplace Support services can change the game. We provide end-to-end support on Amazon, including quick product listings, optimized content and visuals, account management, SEO research for product listings, as well as A+, product, and pricing uploads. Our Amazon marketplace solutions are geared at delivering speedy, revenue-centric solutions that offer you a competitive advantage. So if you’re looking to ace the space of Amazon with browse nodes and more, it’s time to get in touch with the Tenovia team.