Successful Sales Tips – Cross-Selling
The kids are going back to school and the parents are headed to your store. It’s the perfect opportunity to optimize your merchandising tactics to increase profits! Cross-selling merchandise is a great way to leverage your beautiful and creative displays, to expose your product portfolio and boost sales in your store in the process.
The purpose of cross-selling merchandise is to maximize your customers’ shopping experiences in your store and to make sure they have everything they’ll need/want to use the products. For example, Ann Hager from Mulberry Market in Colts Neck, NJ, paired a Paparte wine glass with other wine products.
To begin cross-merchandising, Ann says that you need to have a “theme”. She explains, “You have to have something in your head, whether it’s a color story, a story about the beach, pets, etc… It doesn’t matter what it is, but you have to come up with a story that you want to tell and all of your merchandise in that area should match the theme.”
Some other popular themes could be Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, holidays, pets kitchen necessities, BBQ, wedding, parties, drinkware, kids, graduation and any other story you can come up with.
Kellee Twadelle from Rose & Dove in North Andover, MA, says that another key to cross-selling merchandise is, “having a nice blend of product-to-price point.” What that means is you want to make sure that the prices of the items you’ve grouped together complement each other; keep in mind the rule of “25”: Your items should not exceed a 25 percent difference. If your grouped merchandise surpasses 25 percent, it’s less likely that you’ll see a successful profit from cross-selling those items.
Adding pre-printed Paparte products that complement your displays are a great way to create an interest around Paparte merchandise, its unique designs and personalization options. Of course, InScribe will send you free white paper to help replenish your stock – so get those blank products out of storage and put them into good use! All you have to do is grab a popular-selling product that would be a perfect pair with the displays in your store, print a beloved/relevant design with a generic/trendy name or initial. It’s advisable to add a small sign indicating that the product could be personalized. We can send you those stickers for that purpose; just ask!
Holidays and special events are a great beginning to cross-merchandising, but there are so many more opportunities. Ann says that, “cross-selling with all products is the way we display things and merchandise everything.” If you haven’t already started cross-merchandising in your store, try beginning with back-to-school supplies. Just remember, it’s all about making your customers' shopping experiences better!
Happy selling!
