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Upselling & Cross-selling techniques for e-shops

E-Commerce 2024
Τεχνικές Upselling & Cross-selling για eshops το 2024 Bravescale

Every ecommerce store seeks to increase sales – through promotional activities, advertising campaigns, collaborations with influencers, performance marketing, and many more. In most cases, however, they focus solely on the initial acquisition of potential customers, ignoring (or neglecting) significant opportunities. Upselling & Cross-selling techniques for e-shops are two of the most essential ones that can make a difference, providing additional “weapons” in the arsenal of the online store.

So, let’s examine together these two options, their differences, benefits, and some ideas & proposals that you can implement in your own e-shop.

Upselling & Cross-Selling Techniques for E-shops – What’s the difference between them?

Two of the most widespread sales increase practices that no online store should ignore are Upselling and Cross-selling.

Quite different terms that some – if not most – confuse and find it difficult to understand thoroughly. And it’s perfectly normal, as they are related concepts, but with significant differences.

Let’s examine them in more detail:

upselling & cross-selling techniques for ecommerce stores explanation

Upselling involves promoting a more expensive version of a product or service that the customer is considering purchasing, while cross-selling involves promoting additional products or services that are directly related to the initial one purchased or intended to be purchased by the end consumer.

What is Upselling in eCommerce:

In such cases, it is easier to understand the concept of Upselling (and the difference from cross-selling) through an example, such as that of an e-shop selling electronic devices. This e-shop seeks to promote the new, more expensive version of a television that has just been released, in order to increase sales and revenue compared to older models.

Upselling is therefore a sales technique whereby a business, either with a physical or an online presence, encourages its customers to purchase a premium version of a product to increase the purchase value.

Upselling is the reason, for example, why we buy a new 54″ television instead of the initially planned 48″. It is also the reason why we order a large-sized coffee instead of the original small one we had in mind.

Benefits of Upselling and Cross-selling for Your E-shop

If there were no significant benefits, then Upselling and Cross-selling would not be valuable commercial strategies.

As we mentioned, through Upselling and Cross-selling, we help visitors to our e-shop make a better purchasing decision, with a clear positive impact.

Similarly, the benefits for the business include:

  • Higher revenues from store orders
  • Providing a more personalized shopping experience
  • Developing a stronger relationship with the consumer from the early stages
  • Reinforcing and expanding the positive brand recognition/reputation.
  • One thing is certain – to see results, you have to do it right. The fact that Upselling efforts were made alone does not guarantee the effectiveness of the actions.

That’s why we’ve prepared some ideas/strategies that can help you see positive results from your early efforts.

Bravescale Tips: Upselling Ideas & Tactics

  • Promote an upgraded/larger version of the product at the basket and checkout steps, as well as on the product page, at points where the user is seeking the best opportunity and is in a buying phase.A very effective example of implementing upselling actions is the SEO SaaS tool SERanking.

upselling example seranking.com

  • Highlight the best-selling products of your eshop and promote them
  • Be like Apple: Offer the option to upgrade the product where possible – in size, performance, or features (remember the example with the TV from earlier?)

  • Take advantage of order confirmation pages & emails.

Users are at the most “active” stage of their experience with your brand, the perfect time to convince them to buy something else. Offer them a discount coupon with a limited lifespan (limited-time discount) on the order confirmation page and watch orders from your newly acquired customers increase!

What is cross-selling in e-commerce?

Examining cross-selling through another example, an e-shop selling video games can promote controllers, steering wheels, and generally accessories and specialized equipment, which harmonize well with the new racing video game that has just been released.

Cross-selling is thus a sales strategy in which an e-shop promotes additional products to customers, during or after a purchase.

Bravescale tips: Cross-Selling Ideas & Tactics

  • Add a “Complete the look/set” section to the shopping cart page and during checkout with related products.

  • Create a special section on the product page of your e-shop, where recommendations for product combinations are made with the main product the user is viewing. Use phrases the user is accustomed to seeing, such as “You might also like…” or “Our customers also combine it with…”
  • Upon completing a purchase, add suggested complementary products to the order confirmation email that the user can add to their purchase.


    Extra tip: Create urgency by urging the user to add these items within 12-24 hours to be included in the same shipment as their initial order.

  • Give the user the option for product bundling, saving them from purchasing each product separately. It’s a win-win situation for both parties!

Why incorporate Upselling & Cross-selling techniques into your e-shop?

Cross-selling and upselling have been misunderstood as annoying sales practices in online stores. This is mainly due to how these practices are deployed by e-shops and the level of attention given (which in many cases is very low). Let’s examine some of the advantages of these commercial practices:

  • Increases Customer Retention

It’s well known in marketing and sales that consumers purchase products and services to solve a specific problem. They know the problem, but may not know the best solution to it. As Steve Jobs famously said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Upselling and cross-selling, when done correctly, help customers find more value than they expected and simultaneously increase a business’s revenue, thus improving customer retention and repeat purchases.

  • Increases Average Order Value (AOV) and Customer Lifetime Value (cLTV)

Cross-selling and upselling increase the average order value and the overall value of the customer to the business (cLTV), generating revenue and profits at a very low cost of investment.

  • Improves the Performance of Your E-shop and Media Efficiency Ratio (MER)

Most small and medium-sized businesses rely on digital marketing to increase sales in their e-shop. Whether through Google Ads promotion, social media ads, or SEO, budgets and time are invested to assist in this goal. By implementing Upselling & Cross-selling actions, the overall performance of the investment is automatically enhanced because with the same capital, we have higher income and thus a more efficient Media Efficiency Ratio (more on this in our next article!).

Useful Tips for Effective Upselling & Cross-Selling

  1. Make smart upselling by reducing the available options.
  2. Offer bundles that reduce decision difficulty.
  3. Provide value and don’t push for a sale. After all, the best sale doesn’t look like a sale.
  4. Final thoughts: Is it worth engaging in Upselling & Cross-selling in your eshop?

Both of the techniques we described are powerful tools for an eshop and effectively assist the end consumer in making better decisions, while also enhancing their shopping experience.

We have implemented similar actions for a large number of partners, with positive results that have impacted their profitability, growth, and brand recognition. We have the expertise to take your eshop to the next level of performance. Our specialized team knows how to help you turn plans into action – from design to shaping and evolving actions.

Send us a message to see how we can assist with your project!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter! There, we share tips, updates, and actions with practical application for eCommerce and online businesses – and it’s completely free!


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