Cross-Selling

Cross-Selling
You should get in the habit of cross-selling products in your online store to increase sales. This means that where possible, product pages on your online store should feature accessories or complementary products that your customers may be interested in. For example, consider what Smith & Hawken has done in their online store (www.smithandhawken.com). Whenever a customer views a product, complementary products are displayed on the right-hand side of the page. For example, a customer may select a bench. Smith & Hawken realizes that customers who are interested in purchasing a bench may also be interested in purchasing a matching chair or table.
That’s why there is a section called “Also Look At:” where complementary products are displayed, including an armchair and table. As you might expect, if you look at the Web page advertising for the armchair, the bench is recommended as a complementary product.
The idea here is to try and upsell customers. Eddie Bauer employs a similar strategy on its Web site (www.eddiebauer.com). Customers looking at a specific piece of clothing can ask to see coordinating products by clicking on a link. As you can see, cross-selling is an excellent strategy to increase overall sales in your online store.