{"id":13016,"date":"2021-11-03T07:16:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T14:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dcl-v3\/?p=13016"},"modified":"2024-06-10T04:44:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T11:44:34","slug":"crossselling-vs-upselling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaeljbrumm.com\/dcl-v3\/blog\/fulfillment\/crossselling-vs-upselling\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the Difference Between Cross Selling and Upselling\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecommerce sellers are often looking for ways to boost sales. You may think there\u2019s a simple solution to that: just sell more. It\u2019s just not that simple. There are many nuanced tactics sellers can take in order to net more profits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cross-selling and upselling are two tactics that help increase revenue. Often incorrectly used interchangeably, they work very differently to achieve the same end-goal.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While one company might find it best to increase their average order value (upselling), another might opt to try and increase the average number of products sold within each order (cross-selling). Determining which tactic to take should be based on your product mix and your fulfillment support. Cross-selling and upselling require very different back-end support and have distinct fulfillment implications.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Below is a breakdown of upselling and cross-selling, the difference between the two, and how sellers can utilize each or both to increase revenue and profits from online sales.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Upselling?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The classic upsell is \u201cWould you like to supersize your order?\u201d Upselling incentivizes the customer to purchase items that are higher-end or more expensive. If you\u2019ve ever supersized your order you know that it means you get slightly more of the items you already ordered, for an additional fraction of the original cost. An ecommerce brand may use this to sell a phone with larger storage capacity (64GB instead of 32GB), a bigger pack of razors (three month\u2019s supply instead of one month\u2019s supply), or a slightly larger piece of carry-on luggage (20% extra room!).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Upselling works by increasing your brand\u2019s average order value (AOV) by increasing the frequency that higher-priced goods\u00a0are\u00a0purchased.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unsure what your AOV is? It\u2019s an important growth metric to have. To calculate your AOV, divide the total revenue from your store by the number of orders placed within the same time frame. Here\u2019s an example: if you make $1000 total per day from 25 orders, your average order value is $40. That means your customers cart total is, on average $40. If you were to try to increase that, you might set a goal of $45 or $50 per order (depending on the value of most of your products).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tips for Sellers Using Upselling to Increase AOV<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before you go telling your customers to spend more money, step back and strategize a bit. A sales technique like upselling is based on human psychology. There’s a sweet spot between suggesting higher value items and going too high that it\u2019s out of the range where customers will take your lead. Here are some tips that work for upsells:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n