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E-Commerce
How does Amazon's listing algorithms work?
Kedar Anil Gadgil .

YEH SAB KYAA HO RAHAA HAI?

What's with Amazon India's listing algorithms, bhidu log?

We have a product called "Mangoes & Chilli" fruit spread and it has been around since 2017. Recently, we did some vanity searching to see how and where it shows up on Amazon's search.

Apparently, if you type "Mangoes & Chilli", the first you can see a Tasha & Girl product is on Page 4, #23, with each page containing 48 items. That means, we are #167.

Fair enough. Items ahead of us are probably more relevant, right?

Wrong. These appear ahead of us:

  1. "Sheikh Chilli and Akbar Tansen - Classic Tales 2 in 1" on Page 1 (OK, it has "Chilli" in it)
  2. "Kellogg's Corn Flakes Real Almond and Honey, 1kg" on Page 2 (Like how?)
  3. "Siam Garden Huge Production Fruit Hybrid Kagzi Lemon Dwarf Variety Live Plant" on Page 3 (Huh?)
  4. "Organic Cart Natural Dry Anardana Powder 100 Grams" on Page 4 (What even is Anardana?)

Why, Amazon? How is this relevant to the search term? And why is our product, with literally the exact match for the search term, being relegated this back? Is it because we refuse to bid on the phrase "mangoes & chilli" that you don't show my product to people who are literally searching for it by its exact name? How does that help anyone?

Sigh!

P.S: I am learning more about these algos, and even plan on joining a structured class soon, but this one beats me!

P.P.S: This post was a fun post. Please do not get serious and start solving my problem. I am not asking for a solution. Merely having a Tuesday-morning-smile at the absurdity of this universe. So, chill everyone! Or "chilli" if you are a person who likes it punny. Here, try our fruit spreads while you are sipping your cuppa: https://www.amazon.in/stores/page/F90106AB-0FC2-4230-AD3A-4F53ED8E8D3C

Originally Posted Here
8 Comments

Raghavendra Bsrpg

Its not absurdity of universe, but absurdity of amazon. Any customer with their right mind, would expect your product name to appear first with that search term.. they do many things wrong, you should highlight it in a blog post and tweet about it and make it go viral.. that's the only way we can bring some control to the large marketplace madness..

Kedar Anil Gadgil

This is just blackmail to force is to bid on that phrase. Funny thing is that this isn't some human extorting money from us but Amazon's algos that are designed for this s**t. To me, that is just evil.

Abhishek Upadhya M

Amazon is trying to recreate the nostalgic offline experience of getting lost in a large supermarket.

Kedar Anil Gadgil

That must win comment of the day!!!

Kedar Anil Gadgil

Did you know that there was a time they had classified this same flavour (mangoes & Chilli) as "Hazardous Material" and asked us to fill in HazMat forms because we had written "Caution: Hot" or some such thing in one of our ad copies? I tell you, their algo is a sample...one of a kind. Don't believe me? Here's evidence: https://www.facebook.com/TashaAndGirl/posts/2195503247176907

Agni Chatterjee

https://www.helium10.com/I subscribe to this and anyone I know serious about Amazon business does. I would say if you have some time invest in learning helium platform will save you tons of money.

Personally I had quickly scaled an aquarium accessories ecom biz on Flipkart but the margins were low and GST was a headache, so I have paused it and will resume post corona . Probably ina differnt niche though

Shivakumar Valadi

Unseriously though, I love the form of subtle marketing, which makes atleast some people click thru and then get tempted to buy... Nice product range, btw... Considering a buy😁

Rehan Shaikh

The product name ‘Mangoes and Chilli’ is generic and the algorithm will throw any product with associated keywords in the order of number of views received on Amazon. Though the reason for me to respond on this is that I was surprised to see that you have done Brand ads on Amazon bidding on practically all jam-based keywords and are ranting about anti-ads at the same time. Ofcourse, I must give it to you for smartly marketing your product through this forum😀. Go for Prime badge once your products have enough sales velocity through ads as that is the only way to scale at pace as customers look for Prime tag by default.

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