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Cross-selling is a technique used in online stores to encourage the user to increase the number of products in their shopping cart and therefore increase the average order value.
It consists of offering complementary products in the moments prior to the completion of the purchase and success will depend on the products offered, when they are offered and the way they are offered.
It can usually be found as a block of several products with a headline similar to “Recommended products”, “Other customers also bought”, etc. depending on the medium used to make the recommendation. Displayed at the bottom of the product card or even in the shopping cart itself.
Product selection for cross-selling
In cross-selling the online store must offer complementary products, not substitutes, therefore it is not useful to show similar products. The products to be displayed must be likely to be sold together with the product that the user already has in the cart. For example, if the customer is buying a camera, he may be interested in purchasing a travel bag or an additional lens.
The selection of products to offer with each item can be done automatically, manually or a hybrid of the two options.
Online stores store all order information. This information is very valuable because it makes it possible to establish relationships between products based on whether they have been purchased together.
The premise is: if many users buy products simultaneously, it is likely that other users will also want to buy them together.
This reasoning will work better the higher the sales volume of the online store, as this will increase the representative sample.
An improvement to this approach would be to be able to select complementary products to increase sales of those items where our margin is better. In this way, if we have selected the complementary products for a certain item, the system will show them and if none are shown, the system will use the products usually purchased together.
Tips for successful cross-selling
Facilitate joint purchasing
The simpler it is to add complementary products to the basket, the more successful we will be. One way to make it easy for customers is to incorporate an add to cart button in the same block where the online store presents complementary products.
Avoiding price disparity
Recommending complementary products of a similar or lower price usually achieves a higher hit rate.
Create complete packs
If you detect that customers usually buy two complementary products when purchasing a certain item, it can work well to create a pack of these two products at a competitive price.
Cross-selling is a great option to increase the average basket value and to give more visibility to those products with more interesting profit margins. In addition to offering customers products of interest to them, e-commerce provides a consultancy service that they will appreciate.
