The main aim of cross-selling is to increase the customer’s average cart value, with the ultimate aim of boosting sales.
In this way, cross-selling is closely related to cross-merchandising, which is the strategic placement of related products together within a store or on a website to encourage the purchase of multiple items.
Cross-selling initially appeared exclusively in physical outlets. At the time, it was practiced by a salesperson who proposed the addition of other products to the purchases made by the customer.
For example, the traditional leather care product sold with your new pair of shoes.
However, in recent years, cross-selling has also been extended to the digital world. It’s now offered directly on ecommerce sites.
Cross-selling has the advantage of boosting sales by making products visible that aren’t necessarily visible, even though they may be relevant.
This concept is not to be confused with “upselling,” which is the practice of increasing revenue by offering products that are more expensive than the item initially chosen, in order to move upmarket and generate a higher margin.
There are a number of techniques for successfully implementing a cross-selling strategy:
- Start by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes and understanding their real buying motivations. By knowing your buyer persona, you’ll be in a better position to offer other products and services that meet their expectations, improving the buyer’s journey.
- Your cross-selling offer must also be formulated at the right moment in your sales process. It should come neither too early nor too late.
- To cross-sell effectively, don’t hesitate to use your customers’ sales or browsing history, or the purchases frequently made by your other customers with the same order, to work on your e-merchandising and place the right products in the right places.
- Finally, it’s important to remember that cross-selling isn’t necessarily limited to proposing a product in the purchasing funnel. It can also take place immediately after the sale or a few months later. In this context, why not follow up with your customer to find out if they’re satisfied with the product they've ordered, while suggesting other similar, high value-added purchases?
Cross-selling is a sales technique particularly well-suited to internet sales. So make the most of it for your business!
