It's a term that has become significantly more mainstream over the last few years, with this largely due to its prominence in ecommerce. After all, how many times have you been told about "other products you might be interested in", and similar techniques during your online buying journey?
However, while it might be a little more obvious in relation to online businesses, let's not forget that upselling is actually quite a traditional method of boosting revenue. It has been around for centuries, and mastering it in your retail shop is crucial (particularly in the current economic climate).
Bearing this in mind, this is what today's article is going to focus on. Let's now take a look at some of the best techniques you can adopt in your store when it comes to upselling.
It's not for everyone
First and foremost, don't fall into the trap of thinking that upselling is for everyone. Some customers just aren't going to be suitable candidates and if you try and target them, there's every chance that you will completely lose the sale.
As a result, start to think logically. Firstly, there are some customers that are more likely to be open to upselling tactics - and your first port of call in this regard is selecting those that have shopped with you before.
Then, it's about looking at the types of products that are being purchased. Sure, on some occasions you might get lucky and persuade a customer to purchase another product that is significantly more expensive. On the whole, it's about the smaller add-ons, and choosing items that are within 20% of the price of the initial product is a good starting price. From this point on, choose something that is relevant. In other words, don't try and target customers with completely random product selections, as this is the easiest way to turn them off.
Focus on bundling
In truth, a lot of upselling is about bundling. This is probably one of the most obvious tactics and one of the easiest ways is to invest in a digital screen from somewhere like the Cenareo website. Simply pointing out that you can make a slight saving by combining multiple products can make the world of difference, and get your sales line flying.
Of course, there are also more personal methods and getting your staff members invested in this approach can be immensely beneficial to your upselling results.
Sometimes, you don't need people power
We touched upon this briefly in the last section, but it’s worth mentioning that you don’t always need your employees to help you along (although unquestionably, it will help your sales).
We mentioned the digital signage example, but the methods don’t stop here. You will have seen all the shops that plough small products along the side of their queues, as this is one area where your customers are likely to spend a large amount of time. How many times have you picked up an item, gone to pay for it, before picking up something smaller just before the register? This is a tried-and-tested trick that works like a charm.
