Are You Cross-Selling Your Store's Merchandise?

If not, you should be. Focusing your efforts on a single product or group of products greatly restricts your ability to generate sales. By cross-selling, however, you'll encourage shoppers to buy products that would otherwise go unnoticed.

What is Cross-Selling?

In case this is your first time hearing the term "cross-selling," let me give you a brief explanation. Basically, cross-selling is used to describe the act of selling an additional product or service to a shopper -- one that he or she didn't initially intend to purchase. Cross-selling is most commonly performed through the use of window displays and in-store displays, presenting a combination of two or more products or groups of products.

The purpose of cross-selling is to boost sales by encouraging shoppers to purchase additional products. A simple yet effective cross-selling strategy is to place products that are related to one another in the same display. So when a shopper looks at one product, he or she will see the other product, and hopefully decide to purchase them both. 

Cross-Selling: Back To The Basics

Don't overthink the process of cross-selling merchandise in your store. When creating product displays, ask yourself: would a shopper be interested in purchasing both of these items? If the answer is yes, then it's usually a good idea to include them both. For instance, it's uncommon for electronics stores to display DVD/Blu-Ray movies next to popcorn and sodas. This basic form of cross-merchandising is highly effective, simply because popcorn and sodas go well with movies. 

You can use this same strategy in your retail store, grouping items of similar nature together in your displays. Cross-selling items that "go together" will almost certainly boost your store's sales while also promoting a better all-around shopping experience for consumers. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Cross-Selling Tips and Strategies

• When displaying apparel, try adding fashion accessories and jewelry into the mix.
• Analyze your target demographic to determine what types of products they are most interested in buying.
• Try cross-selling different products around your store's checkout lanes.
• Use bold colors to entice shoppers to check out your store displays.
• Draw attention to the products you are cross-selling by using signs and other promotional adverts.
• If a particular product isn't selling in your display, feel free to replace it with something else.
• Remember, cross-selling can also be done verbally (e.g. asking shoppers if they are interested in buying an additional product during checkout).