Everything You Need to Know About Ecommerce Cross-Selling in 2024

There are countless ways to generate additional revenue for your business. This can be done by introducing new products, offering additional services, or increasing the product price. But one of the most effective ways is through eCommerce cross-selling and upselling, which provides you with numerous opportunities to grow your sales. It can even help retain existing customers as well as acquire new ones.

In this article, let’s go through the complete guide to eCommerce cross-selling and how to implement it in your business to boost sales and  increase customer lifetime value.

Let’s begin..!

Table of Contents

• What is eCommerce Cross-selling?
• Benefits of Cross-selling in eCommerce
• Product Types For Cross-selling in eCommerce
• Difference Between Cross-selling and Up-selling
• Best Practices For Cross-selling in eCommerce
  • Customer Experience Should Be a Top Priority
  • Kickoff with Best Selling Items
  • Offer Free Shipping to Motivate Shoppers
  • Try Bundling
  • Stop Over Cross-selling
  • Ensure Using Visuals
• Wrapping Up

What is Cross-selling in eCommerce?

Cross-selling in eCommerce is an effective marketing technique that motivates customers to purchase complementary products or services in addition to what they are already purchasing. Basically, it involves recommending additional products and provides suggestions like: “If you are buying this, you may also like to buy this”.

Cross selling products are not requirements, but they are for the betterment of purchased products. The main aim is to delight customers and offers more value, along with escalating extra revenue for your business.

According to a survey by McKinsey, cross-selling can boost revenue by 20% and profits by nearly 30%. Invespcro stated that although personalized product recommendations account for only 7% of the website traffic, they generate 26% of the revenue!

Cross-selling not only involves offering low-value products to make money instantly, but, if implemented correctly can boost customer lifetime value and win the trust of the existing and new customers.

Benefits of Cross-selling in eCommerce

There are certain key benefits of cross-selling which are mentioned below:

Increased Average Order Value

Cross-selling for eCommerce does not only mean selling more to customers; it’s all about gaining high returns from every transaction. It entices shoppers to make more purchases on every order. A customer purchasing multiple products or services can help generate more revenue as compared to those purchasing a single one. Cross-selling can help boost sales and grow revenue. It also makes the customers satisfied enough, thus saving time and effort put into customer acquisition.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Providing recommendations about other related or complementary products can help delight customers and deliver more value to the customers. Suppose a shopper is looking to purchase an iPhone, and you show them other related products, such as mobile accessories like a cover, headphones, etc. As a result, it would help save time and effort in picking the perfect match.

Establishes Trust

Providing shoppers with the products they are exactly searching for can establish a strong connection with them in the long run. Offering multiple options to the shoppers makes it easy for them to choose from. As a result, they get easily attached to the brand and trust it.

Offers Convenience

Currently, people are looking for ways to get the utmost convenience and flexibility. No shopper would prefer visiting several stores or moving to several websites just to purchase a single product. So, offering shoppers the related products will encourage them to return back to your store.

Product Types For Cross-selling in eCommerce

In eCommerce, you can leverage cross-selling by showing the following types:

Related Products

Showcasing the products that are similar to the items they are purchasing now. If a customer adds a t-shirt to the cart, Amazon recommends other similar t-shirts. This is because there is a high chance that the shopper might be interested in purchasing additional t-shirts.

Complementary Products

Complementary products are those products that provide value to the product or service the customer is purchasing. Such things are sold differently but used with each other. Both of them are creating demand for each other. For instance, DVD and DVD player, bat and ball, cup and saucer, book and pen, etc.

Services

Just like products, you can similarly cross-sell services. You can offer customers services that may be required by the customers. For example, certain companies offer warranties and protection plans while purchasing the product.

Difference Between Cross-selling and Up-selling

Cross-selling in eCommerce motivates customers to purchase related or complementary products. At the same time, upselling encourages customers to purchase more expensive items or services by offering a premium option. If done effectively, both cross-selling and up-selling can be highly beneficial. It can help provide great customer value and boost revenue, minimizing the cost of various marketing channels.

Upselling helps grow revenue by offering high-value products, whereas cross-selling does the same by suggesting products relevant to the purchase. In up-selling, the products are upgraded to the existing purchase, and for cross-selling, there is an additional purchase.

The customers’ have different intentions for both these tactics. In the case of cross-selling, the customers do not have the intention to buy additional products before they are provided with the suggestions. For upselling, the shoppers do have the intention to purchase products of better quality. Both of these marketing strategies work well for B2B & B2C; if implemented effectively, they can grow your business to the next level.

Best Practices for Cross-selling in eCommerce

Cross-selling can be highly beneficial if executed properly. Here are some of the best practices for cross-selling in eCommerce!

Customer Experience Should Be a Top Priority

A foremost step to consider for cross-selling in eCommerce is that you need to have a proper cross-selling strategy and what products you recommend to your customers. The strategy should be such that it help enhance the customer experience rather than irritating or frustrating the customers. It should add value and satisfy the customer’s needs instead of having a sordid sales approach.

The key to successful eCommerce cross-selling is to offer products that are relevant enough. If they are relevant, there are likely more chances of successful cross sales. For instance, adding a protection plan at the time of purchasing a laptop can motivate them to make a purchase. Suggesting an irrelevant or too expensive item can stop the shoppers from making a purchase or even cause them to abandon their purchase entirely.

Thus, help the customers by offering them several options and make them feel they have received a better deal.

Kickoff with Best Selling Items

Ensure that you start selling your best products when looking for cross-selling items. You can go with your most popular items and offer them under the related products section during the time of checkout.

Offer Free Shipping to Motivate Shoppers

You can incentivize the customers with additional benefits such as free shipping and other discounts to promote cross-selling in your store.

For example, you can set a minimum cart value threshold to be eligible for a specific offer and motivate the customers to purchase other products in order to reach that minimum threshold value and grab the benefits.

Try Bundling

Bundling is one of the successful cross selling techniques that basically involves packaging things that are related to each other. Let’s say you are selling a digital camera, you can bundle related products with it such as camera strap, a memory card, tripod, etc. and offer additional discounts on the bundle.

For the customers, the main benefit of purchasing a bundled product is that they can get the products at a cheaper rate. Choosing a package of products can be much more cost-effective than purchasing a single product for them.

Stop Over Cross-selling

Over cross-selling can sometimes prove to be irritating and frustrating for the shoppers. Cross-selling is helpful for the customers and also benefits the store owners by increasing the average order value. The store owners should find where cross-selling is done excessively. The analytics data obtained can help you determine where the cross-selling is exceedig the limits and hampering your sales.

Ensure Using Visuals

Make sure that you use high-resolution product images and videos to showcase your products, their working, and how they are beneficial. Also, provide them with a closer view of the item so that they can have a better idea about the product. It is the best way to cross-sell items.

Wrapping Up

Cross-selling isn’t always simple and straightforward. The essential thing is increasing the value for customers by showcasing complementary or relevant products. Providing value to the customers must be your prime focus instead of looking for ways to grow your sales. I hope this eCommerce cross-selling guide has been surely helpful to you! Thanks for reading.