The Benefits of Upselling and Cross-selling: 6 Techniques to Succeed

With the evolution of modern markets and customer trends, upselling and cross-selling have picked up steam among retailers looking to hold on to existing customers while attracting new clientele.

Retail store management strategies have come to increasingly value cross-selling and upselling techniques due to the potential to increase cart value while also increasing the probability of impulse sales.

These two aspects are crucial for maximising sales performance while also driving forth revenue on a per-sale basis. Moreover, they also allow the customer to explore more of your products and enable them to understand that your business can be a complete solution for all of their necessities.

In this post, we will detail the methods you can deploy to upsell or cross-sell to customers, along with the key points you should consider when charting your retail store management plan.

Before we get started, feel free to check out our previous post if you wish to learn what these are and what are the differences between upselling and cross-selling.

The benefits of upselling and cross-selling in retail

Upselling and cross-selling hold numerous advantages for businesses.

Apart from promoting better revenue, they can also allow for increased customer satisfaction and enhanced customer loyalty. The word-of-mouth generated from unique buying experiences at your store will also improve footfall from first-time customers and grow your business’s reputation in the market.

Some of the main benefits of implementing upselling and cross-selling are: 

✅ Raises the per-sale value

The most obvious and immediate benefit of including these methods in your business’ retail store management strategy is the increase in every sale’s value.

By upselling and cross-selling, you guide the customer to purchase more products, in addition to products with higher price tags. This enhances the value of each item bought and the overall number of products purchased. The practice ends up optimizing your sales revenue from each customer, bringing in more cash flow for your store.

✅ Elevates customer experience

Most customers are not merely looking for products but also seeking a holistic shopping experience where they find products that are relevant to their necessities.

By using pointed upselling and cross-selling strategies, retailers can promote products that customers might genuinely require. Not only does this double up as a helpful service that provides suggestions, but also adds to your business’ reputation. Knowing how to produce happy customers that are then more likely to recommend your store to others, helps your business attract more people.

✅ Helps create a complete shopping solution

Offering multiple options from each product class, along with recommendations for different, yet related products allow customers to explore newer categories they might not have heard of.

This improves the visibility of the offerings at your store and communicates to your customers that your business offers a vast variety in each set of products; something that matters increasingly in today’s sales environment. It also results in convenience for customers looking to buy products as they go while choosing from your recommendations.

✅ Improved customer service

Offering relevant solutions and products to your customers when upselling and cross-selling can show that you take interest in your customers’ shopping experience. This will help you send a message that you care about your customers’ choices and satisfaction.

An increased number of interactions will help you market your store as a customer-friendly business. Personalized shopping suggestions can also add to this, ensuring that your customers always find what they’re looking for. 

✅ Ensures long-term gains

The increase in customer loyalty from upselling and cross-selling can lead to repeat purchases, which present more opportunities for your business to market more valuable products and enhance impulse buying. These factors can contribute to a better long-term outlook when it comes to generating revenue and better sales numbers.

✅ Improves return on investment

Bringing new customers on board is both expensive and a drawn-out process. On the other hand, marketing to and increasing the value generated from existing customers is an easier and more lucrative alternative.

Upselling and cross-selling allow you to enhance the value generated from existing customers, helping you attract returns on your existing investment without delay.

6 Best upselling and cross-selling strategies

While upselling and cross-selling are highly beneficial to business owners looking to explore better sales opportunities, understanding how and what to implement is crucial.

Below are 6 strategies to help you grow your business with the two techniques:

1. Streamline the shopping experience

A randomised shopping space will impact customer experience in the store, and subsequently, your potential to generate value.

If you’re looking to upsell and cross-sell, placing related items in the same sections of your store will go a long way in organizing and streamlining the shopping experience for your customer. Reaching related products is simpler when placed closer together, also allowing customers to make impulse decisions upon viewing the products.

One way to make the shopping process as easy and simple as possible for your customers is by using chatbots or website pop-ups. You can select certain products that are often purchased together or in other ways complement each other and programme these into your chatbot. Or alternatively, you can recommend additional products with a pop-up that is triggered when a visitor adds something to their carts.

There are many creative and engaging ways to do this. If you're looking for inspiration, check out our post on interactive content ideas for eCommerce.

2. Create product bundles

As briefly mentioned, creating bundles and packages of related products allows your customers to purchase multiple items in a single go. Not only can this enhance value per sale, but offering a discount on bundled items also promotes better customer retention and higher cumulative sales opportunities. Product bundles also allow your customers to view your business as a one-stop shop for valuable deals on products they require.

3. Use customer relationship management

Tracking the customer journey is key to upselling and cross-selling effectively. Unless you understand the customer’s patterns and what they really need, both aspects of revenue generation will be irrelevant.

Choosing the best CRM to generate the customer’s behavioral data alongside their buying history will allow you to market in a more personalized manner, ensuring you have better chances at generating higher sales values.

Another way to collect and utilize customer data is through interactive content, like quizzes and other widgets.

4. Plan ahead and resolve issues

A solid plan is essential when you intend on implementing a retail store management strategy with upselling and cross-selling as its crucial components. Use data-driven insights to determine your business’ potential issues to achieve optimal sales value from each sale it makes.

Augment perspectives to include customer issues and concerns that might arise when you try to recommend higher-value products to them. A big part of this ensuring you have the best possible customer support that is available and optimised to solve possible issues quickly and efficiently. Navigating these issues beforehand will enable better implementation.

5. Provide perks

Offering perks to customers who shop at your store will go a long way in making an impression on them. Gift vouchers, discounts on future purchases, membership perks, and free deliveries will enhance customer loyalty and repeat business. Apart from implementing these perks, also advertise them adequately so these offers have sufficient visibility to attract clientele.

6. Suggest products instead of “convincing”

It’s important to ensure you don’t come off as pushy when recommending products to your customers. Make suggestions on their purchases so that customers can have an open mind about their shopping choices.

Being too forceful when trying to upsell or cross-sell can result in a negative customer experience and dampen the prospects of generating value from the sale.

One way to make this process seamless and natural is through live video shopping. This makes the process of selling to your customers a lot less pushy, as you can easily recommend different products naturally while your customers show voluntary interest towards what you have to offer. With the best live shopping platform, you can benefit from various types of live shopping such as one-to-one, one-to-many and even shoppable video.

Conclusion

With the potential upselling and cross-selling present to retailers, it’s no surprise that businesses have increasingly adopted these strategies. The continued rise in revenue along with the rates of customer engagement has contributed to the development of more pointed customer analyses. These in turn benefit businesses looking to retain and convert more customers with each visit to the store. Implement the mentioned strategies and perform regular research to gain more insights as you develop your approach to growing your business revenue.

About the author

Anna McKenzie is a former financial analyst and advisor with a master’s degree in business administration from UCLA. With 15+ years of experience in consulting businesses of different sizes, verticals, and locals for better financial, operational, and marketing practices, Anna now works with fundkite.com to share her knowledge and educate through the company blog. Her favourite pastimes include reading about human resources and psychology.