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Cross-selling and upselling: How do they help e-commerce sell more?

16/02/2022
Elizabeth De Leon

Cross-selling and up-selling are of fundamental importance in the promotion of e-commerce, as they allow the brand's customer base to increase to increase billing possibilities.

These are very important factors to consider for those who create ecommerce.

What is cross-selling?

Cross-selling is a marketing technique that consists of offering a buyer the purchase of complementary products or services to those originally purchased. The objective is to strengthen a commercial relationship with the client and increase its profitability by increasing the variety of products sold to them.

What are you selling?

The sale Bottom-up is a marketing practice that aims guide the customer towards the purchase of products or services of a higher class than those he intended to buy. This is a practice that attracts a small percentage of existing customers who are willing to spend more for better performing products that improve their lives and work to an appreciable level, compared to what the basic version of it would do. It is also estimated that upselling has a much stronger influence on overall turnover than can potentially be obtained from cross-selling.

Therefore, if we have to choose between the two, it is best to focus first on cross-selling.

These are business promotion strategies and in our case ecommerce, and they are aimed at individuals who have already purchased from us, therefore mentally already predisposed to the purchase, and who, having already tried the quality of the products and services offered, have a greater incentive to get more.

To be clear, Amazon makes 35% of its revenue from upselling and cross-selling strategies.

Cross Selling and Up Selling or Cross Selling Strategies

Customers buy products to satisfy their needs, but they do not necessarily know all the alternatives available to them. Merchants can apply upselling and cross-selling strategies to highlight product combinations that are more desirable than individual ones and more advanced product versions than low-end ones, making them more attractive to customers.

These are, therefore, strategies that aim to improve the life of the buyer by offering products that are capable of responding more effectively to their needs , clearly leading him to spend more money than expected.

Difference between upselling and crosselling

The difference between both tactics is that the Upselling consists of offering more expensive products (due to its greater value) while Cross-selling consists of offering complementary products to those initially identified. 

They are highly appreciated strategies since they do not involve particular costs (if we exclude the discounts to be applied to make the offers more attractive) and they allow marketers to highlight the full range of products available.

Thus we can have, for example, promotions for larger screens that make them more attractive than smaller ones (for example, taking advantage of the desire of the buyer to enjoy movies and games with higher quality), or tourist packages with greater benefits included than the standard versions (to enjoy an even more satisfying vacation).

Un cross selling example It could be the appliance store that, to the customer who has chosen a laptop, also offers a briefcase to carry it with them without being safe from knocks, or the visible appliance with batteries that can be purchased with a small surcharge. An example of upselling is when you try to suggest the customer buy a high-end computer with a graphics card and a superior audio compartment, to have better performance without having to proceed with later upgrades.

MacDonald, for example, proposes to customers that they will pay to “upgrade” the order to have a richer menu at the price of a small surcharge.

How to apply cross-selling and up-selling in your ecommerce

Start thinking about what types of products can be offered in combination with others.

Un cross selling example It is Amazon's strategy, which under selected books recommends others of a similar genre that are usually bought by those who bought the books in question.

You can divide products by price range to indicate to visitors of a level A product the benefits they will obtain by purchasing level B products.

A good strategy is contextualize the difference between the two products and the benefits you get from a higher quality one.

We can add a message like: << Are you a graphic designer? A brand X model Y computer will speed up your work! >> including the best guaranteed technical performance.

Therefore, we can highlight, with a box or a pop-up window, the availability of more convenient products in terms of functions or features to attract surfers to consider their purchase.

Conclusion strategies that are more rooted in the genre of best-selling products, reviewed (therefore more appreciated by the public) and therefore relevant for those to whom they are sold. Upselling can be practiced naturally (with good observation and planning skills) or automatically through add-ons.

If you prefer to work by hand, you have to divide your products by categories and for each of them divide them into bands to identify luxury ones versus basic ones.

For example, you can determine which sweaters or pants are luxurious compared to those of a more common level and indicate why the user may prefer to buy them.

The direct objective of selling high-end products helps you increase income in no time. To implement these suggestions, if you cannot do it yourself, you can contact a web designer that can present solutions to highlight products, without compromising the navigability of the site.

They are very important introductions to ensure the profitability of your ecommerce, so it is necessary to check that the introductions are not an obstacle for anyone who has to navigate the portal.

You can also rely on data from Google Analytics to determine which product pages receive the most visits and identify the most appropriate high-end products in relation to them to design.

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