What is a cross-sell?

A cross-sell is a sales tactic used by businesses to encourage customers to purchase an additional product or service that is related to their current purchase. It is often used in retail and e-commerce, travel and hospitality, banking, and insurance industries.

Cross-selling vs up-selling — what’s the difference?

Cross-selling and upselling are both marketing strategies that businesses use to increase sales.

Cross-selling involves recommending related products or services that complement the item/s a customer has selected.

Upselling, on the other hand, involves offering customers a more expensive alternative to what they have already chosen.

What are some examples of cross-selling?

Below are some examples of cross-selling across different industries:

Retail: a brick-and-mortar clothing store offering customers a discount on a belt or denim cleaner when they purchase a new pair of jeans.

E-commerce: a customer buying a smartphone online being shown cases and screensavers that would complement their purchase.

Travel/hospitality: a customer booking a flight may be given a discounted rate on car rental or hotels at their destination.

What are the benefits of cross-selling?

For brands willing to invest the time in devising an effective cross-sell strategy, cross-selling can provide many benefits, including:

  1. Increased customer loyalty and satisfaction.
  2. Increased revenue from additional sales and higher average order value.
  3. Improved customer engagement by increasing product exposure.
  4. Enhanced understanding of customer preferences and behavior.
  5. Greater potential for upselling or introducing customers to new products or services they may not have known about before.

How to create a cross-sell strategy

Brands can build cross-selling into their overall marketing strategy by following these steps:

  1. Analyze the customer’s purchase history and determine what products they may be interested in. Use historical purchase history from other customers who’ve bought those same products to determine best cross-sell options.
  2. Identify items that can be easily bundled together or add value to a customer’s current purchase.
  3. Offer customers discounts to incentivize them to make additional purchases.
  4. Strategically place information about related products on the product pages of their current items.
  5. Monitor customer feedback and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Leading brands choose Emarsys to power their customer lifecycle marketing

Emarsys helps leading brands like PUMA, Pizza Hut and Nike to connect their sales, product and customer data and deliver better customer experiences that drive results across the customer lifecycle.