By perfecting the art of up-selling and cross-selling not only will you increase average basket size , your customers will perceive this as a unique, valuable service that sets you apart from competitors. However, many retail employees don’t consistently engage in this practice. This is a relatively simple area for retail leaders to drive improvements – if they adopt the right strategies and systems.
The Art of Up-Selling
During an up-sell, you’re encouraging your customers to increase the amount they spend on a product solution. Depending on your retail category, this could be suggesting more expensive (better) products/models/styles, larger quantities, or extra features. For example, a 32Gb iPhone could be up-sold to a 64Gb iPhone. The customer may not have considered the value in upgrading their original choice and appreciate having all available options to consider.
To achieve success with this method, always wait until the customer has made the purchasing decision before introducing the up-sell option. Also, be sure to plan easy up-selling options that your staff can be cued to suggest at POS.
The Art of Cross-Selling
‘Would you like fries with that?’ – the classic example of a cross-sell. Cross-selling is all about strategically suggesting additional related products to your customers with each transaction. For example, a retail assistant could suggest accessories that will complement their current choice and because the customer is already swept up in the enjoyment of buying, they will often immediately see the added benefit the additional item suggested.
For optimal cross-selling, create a list of related products that will be complementary to each item in your store. i.e. offer a customer who is purchasing a suit, a dress shirt, and a suitable tie.
The goal is to significantly increase average basket size and improve the total transaction value. Consider the sale of a dress at $150, simply by encouraging the customer to buy a matching accessory at $25 you can achieve a 16% increase in the sale value. The beauty of a cross-sell is that the customer is already in a ‘buying mode’; therefore the opportunity is ripe to tempt them with an additional purchase.
The Importance of Staff Training
Staff confidence and preparation is integral to both the up-selling and cross-selling process. Empowering your staff with role play and practice in bridging statements or leading questions will ensure they provide a greater customer experience and successfully increase basket size with every sale. By investing time in training and having regular briefings on what to recommend, you will foster employees who are well informed and motivated to automatically use these sales skills in their everyday customer engagements.
Using advanced POS software with a powerful product recommendation engine will help to encourage this behaviour and will arm your sales team with the correct tools and information to make the cross-selling process easy.
How an Advanced POS System Enables Consistent Up-Selling & Cross-Selling
An advanced Point of Sale solution like Retail Express can empower staff with the right resources to maximise basket size and enable multi-buy strategies and opportunities. It does this by making it easy for staff to identify which products to select for up-sell/cross-sell unique to each situation/customer. It takes into consideration old stock, marked down items and available inventory in other locations or channels. You can also add on-screen cues such as “Did you add a sale?”, setup incentives and report on each staff members performance. An advanced POS can also give staff a better understanding of demographic information such as age and gender for occasion-based shopping/cross-sells. For example, if they know a customer has a husband and kids, they can cross-sell for men and children. And better yet, if the customer has a history of purchasing, the sales team can leverage suggested items related to past sales. In short, your POS system should enable your employees to be proactive, and aide efficiency and simplicity in the up-sell/cross-sell technique.
Most shoppers are driven by promotional incentives such as promo codes, sales tiers (spend more, save more), and loyalty programs. With an advanced Retail Management System like Retail Express, you can configure more sophisticated practices in these areas. For example, you can create a tiered loyalty point system which offers more incentive for higher spend so shoppers get to the next discount level. Exclusive offers, can be made available only to loyal shoppers to give them a reason to return and build status. You can even integrate your eCommerce site to offer Click & Collect and In-Store Stock and drive in-store purchases that enable effective up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. By offering Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services such as Afterpay and Zip Pay, buyers are more likely to add-on items or make large up-sell purchases if they don’t have to pay for the item at that moment. With Retail Express, there’s direct in-store integration with Afterpay and Zip Pay so you can offer the most streamlined payment experience possible.
Visual Merchandising – The Silent Salesperson
As well as using an advanced POS system that empowers staff to up-sell or cross-sell you can also reap the benefits of visual merchandising. “Great visual merchandising displays and layouts are a retailer’s best friend and silent salesperson. Make it easy for your customers to find what they are looking for by using adjacencies to assist with the up-sell.
Put belts on/with pants, bags with shoes, phones and appliances with their accessories, etc, so that the merchandising is up-selling for you”, advises Brian Walker, a retail consultant, in Smart Company.
Using these techniques online will also achieve higher sales amounts. Consider using pop-up suggestions or headings such as “customers who bought this item also bought” or “you may also like”, based on the customers chosen purchase item in your online store. E-commerce surveys have found 30% of buyers will make an additional, last-minute purchase when shown another item that complements their original choice. Promoting an incentive of free delivery with an additional purchase at check out will also result in more sales.
Are You Reaching Your Full Potential?
There are endless benefits of your retail staff embracing up-sell and cross-sell techniques. And, if done in the right way, can entice customers to return to your store because your staff offer knowledgeable, helpful and positive service. If your staff aren’t attempting to up-sell or cross-sell you are missing out on countless additional sales with every single transaction!
Looking to fast track your growth with a smarter Retail POS System? Contact the Retail Express team today on 1300 732 618.