Why Frequently Bought Together is a Great Upselling Strategy for Your Shopify Store
There is no denying that eCommerce is booming – yet understanding how best to stand apart in such a competitive market today is a big part of the battle facing Shopify store owners in 2022.
One of the best ways to take advantage of the natural synergies in your inventory and the purchasing habits of your Shopify customers is by gaining insights into what products are frequently bought together. From there, developing a strategy of upselling complementary products can bulk up the order value of each transaction—all of which makes for a healthier bottom line.
Of course, the question remains – how do you know what to sell, what’s frequently bought together, and how can it work for your Shopify store? Let’s explore these ideas in a little more depth.
How upselling boosts the value of your repeat business
eCommerce store owners expect to find and appreciate customers who show brand loyalty and commit to repeat purchases. You make money off of brand loyalty and retention, so it’s advantageous to wow your customers on their first, second, and third purchases with exciting experiences with your products.
Upselling intelligently lets you enhance the order value of existing purchases, and gives customers a feeling of excitement as they are recommended the items that are frequently bought together. Amazon’s entire business model is built on recommending products that are frequently bought together on the product pages to capture the maximum sale per purchaser.
Is upselling the same as cross-selling?
While there is overlap between Shopify store upselling and cross-selling items that are frequently bought together, the two strategies are slightly different. While there is significant overlap when you upsell versus cross-selling, there’s a distinction to keep in mind.
Let’s use an example. Say you’re a store that sells sneakers. A customer has come to your Shopify store to buy a pair of Nike Air Force 1s.
When you’re upselling to this customer:
You’re optimizing your product pages to steer purchases towards bigger ticket items. For example, you’d use content, copy, and reviews to advise customers to buy the Air Force 1’s that are newer or rarer at a higher price point.
When you’re cross-selling to this customer:
You would be recommending products that are frequently bought together with those sneakers. Those items could include socks, sneaker care, or other complementary products to the order. These products are oftentimes at a lower price point or equal to the existing purchase.
Using frequently bought-together recommendations to grow order values
You can fuse the philosophies of upselling and cross-selling in your Shopify store using the principle of ‘frequently bought together’ – understanding what other customers buy at the same time as a given product to round out a new purchase.
Doing this positions your store as a one-stop shop for all your customer’s needs – increasing their retention and CLV as they come to trust that you know your stuff.
Does this mean a lot of deep research, data diving into e-commerce stats, and second-guessing what’s frequently bought together in your customer base? Not at all. You are too busy running a growing business. The right addition is all it takes to take the hassle out of upselling in your Shopify store – helping you fine-tune your growth strategy.
Upselly on Shopify
Upselly takes the complexity out of which products to recommend at the right time to the right customers and displays relevant products that are often purchased together or would complement the existing purchase to help the customer buy more from your store at one time.
