Cross-selling, also known as “added selling”, is a sales technique consisting of offering an additional product to the Internet user when they make a purchase.
Cross-selling is used today by 70% of e-commerce sites. Additional sales can represent almost a quarter of a product’s sales!
Two forms of cross-selling are very widespread on e-commerce sites:
- offering associated products (for example, earrings with the purchase of a necklace)
- offering products bought at the same time (people who bought this product also bought these other products).
Cross-selling allows the merchant to make full use of his catalogue of products by making visible items that would not necessarily be seen by the customer.
Browsing and search engines allow customers to find the products they are looking for. Cross-selling allows you to suggest other products that are likely to interest them. The merchant decides which products to highlight or recommend to customers.
To do so, define the additional products, identify the relevant product associations and choose at what moment to make them available to Internet users.
According to the size of your catalogue and how often you update your site, you can opt for manual or automatic cross-selling.
5 benefits for the customer:
- Being able to choose from a wider range of products
- An improved browsing experience
- Able to easily add to the initial product
- Feeling assisted when making purchases (e.g.: “you may also like”, “these items might interest you”…)
- Reassuring to see that other Internet users like the same products (e.g.: “customers who bought this product also like”…)
5 benefits for the merchant:
- Becoming better known
- Improving knowledge of the customer
- Offering more relevant products
- Improving customer service by assisting the customer in choosing products
- Increasing the average buying basket
5 basic rules to observe:
- Consider the customers’ expectations. The message that you must communicate is: you are there to make their life easier, to be helpful, not to force them to buy products
- The merchant must not be tempted to only “push” stock that he needs to get rid of, even if it has no connection with the main product… Note – the customer must not feel like he is being directed to products that are not selling.
- Do not lose the customer! Do not “overwhelm” the customer with additional products or he may lose interest in the main product. Cross-selling must be perceived as a “plus”
- Choose wisely where and when to offer cross-selling on the site (in the product information sheet, in the basket…)
- In addition to your natural instincts and obvious product associations, use the Analytics website to find relevant correlations between your products
Cross-selling represents an excellent strategy for increasing sales in your e-store so adopt it now!
To go further, use the social networks buttons: “Like” (Facebook) and “+1″ (Google). Your customers can recommend your products to their circle. You’ll gain visibility!
Author: Tom
Date: February 28, 2012 at 1:31 am
I’ve been searching for what seems like an age, for a module that will eloquently display ‘associated products’. Do you know of any that offer the features you talk about above?
More specifically, I’m looking for a module that will display for example, kitchen accessories in the kitchen saucepans category.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Tom