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Colette: Today we’re taking a closer look at how to use cross-sellers and up-sellers to increase your online sales with Dr. Ralph Wilson, Founder of WilsonWeb.com.
Colette: Fantastic website Dr. Wilson.
Dr. Wilson: Well, thank you, that’s very kind.
Colette: We were talking a lot about bundling as one of your up-selling options and something I’ve seen quite a lot is free shipping with bundling.
Dr. Wilson: Oh yeah.
Colette: Where you can actually get free shipping if you buy a bundle of products together. Have you been seeing that a lot as well?
Dr. Wilson: Oh, I think it was very popular this last Christmas season in particular. I read a statistic someplace that half the retailers out there, internet retailers, were offering some of that. A couple of years ago, I think Amazon has been a pioneer in a lot of things in online retailing. A couple of years ago they cut their advertising a great deal during Christmas, but instead put that money into offering free shipping for a $25 or more price.
Chris: Right.
Dr. Wilson: And it was a real success for them. Like I said, I’m a book kind of guy, so I’ve got some books that I might buy, except it says, for only $6.25 you can get free shipping. I say, whoa, what can I buy for $6.25 (laughter).
Chris: There you go.
Colette: (Laughter)
Dr. Wilson: So now, instead of buying something for $18, I’m buying something for $25, $26, $28 dollars so I can get free shipping.
Chris: Right.
Dr. Wilson: Whether or not I actually save any money on the deal, I may or may not, but it’s the idea of, gee, I can save money. So another form of bundling that is very common for retailing, both online and offline, is quantity kinds of things. You know, if you buy one it’s at this price, if you buy four it’s a little bit less, if you buy ten you can get 25% off.
Chris: Right.
Dr. Wilson: And I think a lot of online retailers, they haven’t been at this as long as some of the traditional store retailers and haven’t learned some of those tricks, but quantity discounts is one of those things. And a lot of online stores support that in their pricing module that will allow you to offer those kinds of discounts.
Chris: Right. And of course, these fit for certain products and not others. Like, you can’t offer ten sleeping bags at a discount, but you can offer ten reusable products at a discount.
Dr. Wilson: Right.
Chris: So look for the products that people reuse and are going to need more anyway.
Dr. Wilson: But you might offer two sleeping bags at a discount rather than one.
Chris: That’s right, as a Valentine’s Day package, right?
Dr. Wilson: There you go (laughter).
Chris: (Laughter)
Colette: This is where light bulk wholesale and liquidation is such a great asset as an online retailer to be utilizing because you can create such great bundles that you can sell online.
Chris: Right. You know, we try to spend a lot of time, Ralph, that multiple sources of products are very important. The product sourcing is not just a one-time thing. You don’t source one product, find one wholesaler, and say, okay, I’m done now, I’m just going to go sell this. You know, sourcing your products is just really something that lasts for the lifetime of your business, correct?
Dr. Wilson: Yeah.
Chris: It’s just an evolving process. Do you have, how about an example of cross-selling?
Dr. Wilson: Well, we mentioned Amazon that shows you products.
Chris: Yeah.
Dr. Wilson: And I mentioned Land’s End. I was shopping for a Christmas present for myself actually (laughter).
Chris: Yeah (laughter).
Dr. Wilson: I was doing this article on cross-selling and looking at various stores to see how they did it and apparel stores do this all the time. Some apparel stores, few apparel stores offer a whole range of products of the same kind.
Chris: Yeah.
Dr. Wilson: But most of them offer accessories that go with that kind of apparel. So if you’re getting a shirt, here are some shoes or here’s a tie, that kind of thing. Instead of offering other options of the same, they offer the accessories that go with it.
Chris: Right.
Dr. Wilson: Both are done and I’m sure that both have some success.
Chris: You know, that’s, in fact, I’m going to do some clothes shopping later on today, and the store that I like to go to, the same thing. But I’ll find they’ll even have things like men’s watches and men’s colognes and things like that right there at the counter or around the counter.
Dr. Wilson: Yeah.
Chris: Which is basically the same thing as the displays that you see at the supermarket checkouts, right?
Dr. Wilson: Yep.
Chris: All kinds of related products, but just impulse buys.
Dr. Wilson: And one of the keys to this is testing.
Chris: Yes, yes.
Dr. Wilson: To see what is working and then do more of what’s working.
Chris: Let’s talk about that after the break here. It is time for a quick break. There’s a lot more to discuss with Dr. Ralph Wilson when we return. Check out ProductSourcingShow.com to listen to this month’s shows, read written transcripts, link to our podcasts, and more. And checkout WilsonWeb.com. I’m Chris Malta.
Colette: And I’m Colette Marshall.
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