Powerful Cross-Selling Strategies for Your Shopify Store

Written by: Guest Blog

Published: Dec 6, 2023

10 minutes read

Ultimate guide to shopify checkout customizations

As an eCommerce merchant, drawing visitors to your store is an art you've likely perfected. However, with rising acquisition costs making profitability a tougher nut to crack, it's time to explore a game-changing strategy - cross-selling. Think of cross-selling as a friendly suggestion, introducing customers to products or services that go hand-in-hand with what they initially picked. It's not just a tactic; it's an art, and we're here to help you become a master.


In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into illuminating cross-selling strategies on Shopify with examples, providing you with a firsthand look at how this technique unfolds in real-world scenarios.


Ready to make your online store even more awesome? Let's dive into the world of friendly and effective eCommerce cross-selling! 

What is cross-selling?

Cross-selling is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase additional products or services that complement their initial buy. 

A well-crafted eCommerce cross-selling strategy has the potential to substantially boost sales while simultaneously fostering customer loyalty.

Let's explore key statistics to understand the impact of cross-selling.

  • Studies indicate that cross-selling can contribute to a 50% revenue boost.
  • 65% of businesses effectively enhance sales through cross-selling.
  • E-commerce cross-selling has the potential to generate a 10% - 40% increase in new orders.

These figures underscore the significance and effectiveness of integrating these cross-selling strategies into sales initiatives.

Types of cross-selling

In this section, we'll outline forms of cross-selling that you can seamlessly integrate into your Shopify store, and real-life examples can be found in the next sections.

1. Bundled Products

The concept of bundled products involves cross-selling two or more items together at a discounted rate. Bundling products can assist merchants in:
  • Elevating the average order value by motivating customers to acquire multiple products from your store.
  • Clearing slow-moving inventory: Incorporating sluggish stock into a bundle facilitates its movement from your inventory.
  • Streamlining marketing efforts: Promoting a catalog with ten related yet distinct products is more intricate than marketing a single product bundle.

2. Subscriptions

This cross-selling technique entails providing buyers with the option to subscribe to a service where they receive recurring deliveries of the products they are purchasing. 
Here are some notable advantages of implementing a subscription strategy:
  • Steady recurring revenue: Subscriptions offer a significant advantage by converting potential customers into long-term patrons, securing a consistent stream of recurring revenue for your business.
  • Enhanced customer loyalty & robust customer base: Building enduring relationships with returning shoppers is more feasible than constantly attracting new customers. Subscriptions enable businesses to concentrate on existing subscribers, reducing the need for continuous customer acquisition efforts.
  • Simplified inventory control: Predicting required inventory becomes more straightforward when customers make regular, scheduled purchases.

3. Product recommendations

3.1. Complementary products

This type of eCommerce cross-selling suggests complementary products alongside the item your customers are purchasing. This can enhance the likelihood of customers buying both items, thereby increasing sales.
3.2. Related products
This falls under the umbrella of cross-selling, where you suggest relevant products aligned with your customers' browsing history. This allows buyers to explore new items they are inclined to purchase, ultimately boosting the overall amount spent.

Explore the significant benefits of product recommendations in your eCommerce store:
  • Boost average order value: Utilize customer data for personalized cross-sell suggestions, enhancing the likelihood of shoppers increasing their spending in a single transaction.
  • Foster brand loyalty: Tailored product suggestions convey to your customers a deep understanding of their individual preferences. When shoppers sense this comprehension from a brand, recognizing that their needs are acknowledged and addressed, it cultivates loyalty. This loyalty, in turn, can manifest as repeated purchases, heightened engagement across various channels, and advocacy for the brand.
  • Enhance trust and credibility: Intelligent product recommendations position your brand as credible, showcasing investment in technology to understand and improve the customer experience, ultimately building trust among consumers.

Cross-selling vs. Upselling: What are the differences?

Cross-selling and upselling are often confused and misused, yet they represent distinct sales management strategies. Both aim to boost the overall value of a buyer's purchase.

The fundamental contrast between cross-selling and upselling is summarized as follows:

  • Upselling involves offering a higher-priced version of the same product or service.
  • Cross-selling entails providing additional complementary products or services.

Through upselling, increased revenue is generated as customers spend more on an upgraded or enhanced version of the product. For instance, persuading a customer to purchase a more advanced laptop for an extra $60.


On the other hand, cross-selling produces higher revenue by promoting additional products alongside the initial items. For example, convincing a buyer to purchase a mouse pad to complement their new laptop for $30.

Cross-selling strategies for your Shopify stores

1. Cross-sell on product pages

Visitors to your product page are on the verge of making a purchase, indicating their serious intent to shop. However, employing intrusive and overly aggressive cross-selling tactics might drive them away or lead to disengagement. To effectively cross-sell on your Shopify product page, focus on adding value to your customers rather than solely emphasizing the cart price. Enhance the overall quality of the shopping cart.


Below are examples illustrating how eCommerce stores successfully implement cross-selling strategies:

Amazon

Amazon employs phrases such as "Products related to this item" and "Frequently bought together" to suggest related items to customers.

amazon

Source: Amazon

These recommendation messages imply that shoppers frequently search for and purchase these products together, showcasing endorsement and social validation. 

According to McKinsey, 35% of Amazon's sales result from product recommendations, highlighting the success of their cross-selling strategy.

Pipcorn

Pipcorn, renowned for its variations of classic salty snacks, employs two cross-selling strategies on its product page.

pipcorn

Source: Pipcorn

First, they encourage customers to subscribe to save money on their purchase. This not only provides flexibility in product acquisition but also enhances the potential for recurring revenue. The subscription model ensures regular snack deliveries, simplifying the shopping experience and fostering loyalty by providing a hassle-free way to consistently enjoy high-quality food items.


Additionally, they offer customers a variety of snack flavors, enabling them to curate personalized popcorn bundles at discounted rates. This not only captivates customer interest but also enhances engagement, encouraging more purchases and contributing to an increase in the average order value.

reasons for abandonments during checkout

Source: Pipcorn

iHerb

iHerb, another brand, employs the cross-selling tactic by suggesting related products and utilizes social proof by incorporating star ratings in its product recommendations. 

This use of social proof is a great method, as a substantial number of positive reviews signals to shoppers that the item is popular, potentially influencing them to include it in their carts.

iHerb

Source: iHerb

Opting to recommend products with a minimum four-star rating streamlines the persuasion process for shoppers. According to statistics, 49% of consumers demand at least a four-star average review before considering engagement with a business.

Mango

Mango suggests visually appealing and complementing outfits. When browsing for a clothing item, the brand provides recommendations for several pieces that can be styled with it. Mango enhances these suggestions with captivating images.

For example, if you're viewing a product page for ankle boots, Mango showcases complementary products like coats, T-shirts, and accessories to complete the ensemble. 

Mango

Source: Mango

Additionally, they recommend other shoe styles with a similar size to broaden your choices and increase the likelihood of making a purchase.

Product recommendation is a prevalent cross-selling tactic for your Shopify store, and many Shopify apps offer the integration of various eCommerce cross-selling techniques.


If you're seeking efficient solutions, we highly recommend trying FoxKit - an all-in-one sales boost app designed for Shopify stores. With FoxKit's intuitive and user-friendly interface, displaying related products on the target product page has never been simpler.


FoxKit goes beyond recommendations - it enables you to craft product bundles. You can either create predefined bundles or provide shoppers with a bundle-building option. This functionality enhances the sale of multiple items by proposing attractive combos on every page. 

Foxkit

2. Cross-sell during the checkout process

When a shopper adds a product to their cart and proceeds to the checkout page, their intention to make a purchase is at its peak. At this stage, they've committed to buying from your brand - a significant moment - and are on the verge of entering their payment details.


The furniture and home decor brand Crate and Barrel impressively incorporates a cross-selling strategy into their checkout process, creating a positive shopping experience.

For instance, let's consider a shopper intrigued by the "Light Oak Wood 4x6 Picture Frame."


Upon selecting "Add to Cart," a window appears displaying the chosen item and suggesting additional products that others who bought the same picture frame also purchased.

crate and barrel

Crate and Barrel takes this a step further by presenting potential complementary items when the shopper proceeds to the checkout to complete their order. Below the main item being purchased, they find a section showcasing additional items of potential interest.

reasons for abandonments during checkout

This cross-selling strategy on Shopify ensures that, even if a shopper didn't engage with the initial cross-selling attempt when adding an item to their cart, they might respond to a second attempt during the checkout process.

3. Cross-sell in the cart page

This example of cross-selling is from Pandora, a world-renowned jewelry brand that cleverly employs a cross-sell strategy on its cart page to suggest related products to those already in the customer's cart.

reasons for abandonments during checkout

Source: Pandora

The cross-sells are strategically positioned below the fold at the bottom of the cart contents. As customers scroll down to review the items in their cart, they encounter these suggestions.


Pandora recommends variations of relevant products, presenting them in well-structured slides featuring high-quality and captivating images. This design consolidates all information on one page, ensuring the cross-selling strategy remains subtle and doesn't distract visitors from seamlessly proceeding to checkout with excessive content.


This consideration is crucial because, at this stage of the conversion funnel, it's essential to avoid anything that might interrupt the user's progression toward making a purchase.


Another example of a cross-sell strategy on the cart page comes from Holland and Barrett, a pharmacy store in the UK.

Holland and Barrett

In contrast to Pandora, they position cross-selling items above the one added to the cart. However, the presentation remains subtle, occupying minimal space. This ensures that customers can instantly view the details of their selected products and the order summary when navigating to the cart page without confusion. This cross-selling tactic aims to capture attention without disrupting to the checkout process.

4. Cross-sell in your cart drawer

This cross-selling strategy can be seen in various Shopify stores. When you click "Add to cart," instead of being directed to a separate cart page, a cart drawer appears right on the same product page.


This streamlined approach aims to create a shorter conversion journey, theorizing that eliminating this extra step can result in increased sales. Even within the cart drawer, you can implement cross-sell tactics for your Shopify store.


In the case of the clothing brand Gymshark, their cross-selling tactic involves suggesting products that others have also bought in the cart drawer. This strategy provides personalized recommendations based on others' purchases.

Gymshark

Source: Gymshark

What stands out in Gymshark's cart drawer is the inclusion of star ratings for each recommended product and the availability of various sizes, allowing customers to instantly add the product with their chosen sizes without navigating to a separate product page. This not only enhances the shopping experience but also increases the potential for more sales.


You can explore more of the best Shopify stores to get the inspirations on how they employ cross-selling strategies to their advantage.

Conclusion: Get inspiration for your cross-selling strategies from these examples

Elevate your store's success with cross-selling - a dynamic sales technique that boosts revenue. Personalized suggestions create an engaging customer experience, fostering loyalty and repeat purchases. The key to your store's triumph lies in securing repeat sales from loyal customers, ensuring a steady increase in revenue. Explore a variety of cross-sell strategies and real-life examples to fuel your inspiration in implementing effective eCommerce cross-selling tactics on your Shopify store. From product recommendations to bundling and subscriptions, experiment with these strategies and witness the transformative impact on your business!

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About The Author

  • Foxecom

    Lucy - Foxecom

    Lucy is a Content Marketer at FoxEcom, an agile Shopify team developing smart & hyperefficient solutions for SMB markets. They empower over 10,000 growing businesses to craft exceptional shopping experiences for optimal conversion rates with their leading apps and themes.

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