How to Boost Cross Selling and Up-selling With Retail Displays

McIntyre Retail Displays

Chances are, you’ve experienced up-selling and cross selling firsthand.

Any time the drive-through cashier asks if you’d like to “super-size” your meal or you’re considering purchasing a car with an upgrade to leather seats, you’ve been exposed to these marketing methods.

It’s one of the best, most effective tools in the salesperson’s playbook. If you’re not taking advantage of up-selling and cross selling you’re missing out on important revenues—and POP displays are a key element in helping you net those sales.

But it’s not just a mere POP display that assists—to reap the full benefits, you need a customized POP display that directly reflects your product, your business and your values.

We’ll explore how a customized POP display enables you to earn more money and how the principles of up-selling and cross selling play a large part in helping your bottom line.

What is up-selling?

Up-selling occurs when you encourage customers to buy an item that is slightly better than the one they are considering. We see this all the time, such as selecting a computer with faster speed and more memory.

What is cross selling?

The purpose of cross selling is to encourage the buyer to purchase additional items that complement the one he or she has already purchased. Examples include the case to go with your new laptop or a chain lock and bike rack to go with the new bicycle you purchased.

How important are up-selling and cross selling?

These techniques can be very effective with both new and existing customers.

The chance of up-selling to a new customer is somewhere between 5 and 20 percent. Success in up-selling (and cross selling) to new customers rests in the ability of the POP display to adequately provide enough education to help the customer realize that an upgrade is in his or her best interest.

For an existing customer, the probability of up-selling increases dramatically — to 60 or 70 percent.

If you ignore the benefits of up-selling and cross selling, you’re losing revenue.

How can customized POP displays assist with up-selling and cross selling?

POP displays can be effectively used to convey the educational message that points the consumer in the direction of an additional product or a better version of the product they are considering.

According to the Harvard Business Review, spending money on an impressive POP display often proves more productive than purchasing advertising and promotion expenditures.

Following are three reasons why POP displays are a highly effective means for retail up-selling or cross selling:

1. POP displays are valuable focal points to suggest add-ons.

By using a POP display as the focal point, it naturally points the customer’s attention to the variety of options available. Therefore, it is important that the superior product is located beside the lower-grade version, showing the contrast and value in the upgrade. Likewise with cross selling, the complementary products should be located nearby.

2. POP displays offer customer education.

So why is the more expensive printer better than another one? Consumers are interested in convenience and may not have time— or the inclination— to grab the attention of a sales clerk.

Therefore, the POP display has the responsibility of clearly and concisely explaining the advantages of the purchase.

The POP display may include:

  • References to a website for more information
  • Testimonials from satisfied customers
  • Bullet points to clearly outline product benefits
  • Samples—such as fabric swatches

3. POP displays cater to “impulse buys.”

When was the last time you went to Office Depot, Staples, or another office supply store? At the checkout counter, you likely found wonderful examples of cross selling in the form of USB chargers, flash drives, lanyards and similar items.

By having these related objects readily available, customers can quickly access and purchase them, even if these weren’t the items for which they were shopping. The key to important checkout counter impulse buys is an effective POP counter display.

Watch and learn from others.

When was the last time you experienced an up-sell or cross sell? What were the factors that influenced your decision? We’re willing to bet that part of your decision was based upon a clear, concise message that outlined the advantages of making that choice. This is the same message you can convey through a customized POP display.

We’ll help you take advantage of these marketing strategies.

Perhaps you have a specific goal in mind, but aren’t sure how to transform it into reality. Don’t worry. We have decades of experience helping our retail clients gain more customers and achieve an excellent ROI for their POP displays.

Contact us to discuss how we can help you. We’d love to talk about your ideas and create a display that will help increase your bottom line.

Three Ways a Customized POP Display Will Help You Earn More Money

While online retailers still garner a lot of attention, consumers haven’t tired of brick-and-mortar stores. According to Inc. online magazine, as many as 90 percent of purchases are still made in-store. This is for a variety of reasons, including:

  • Product availability
  • The desire to have the item immediately after purchase
  • Avoidance of delivery fees
  • The need to touch and feel the product
  • Impulse buys

For these reasons, it’s even more important that you have a POP display that is dynamic, grabs the consumers’ attention, and reinforces the brand you’ve worked so hard to establish.

Some companies may balk at the additional expense of a quality–crafted, fully customizable display. However, the truth is that a POP display is one of the most cost-effective marketing techniques you have at your disposal. According to the Harvard Business Review, impressive POP displays often outperform other methods of advertising and promotion expenditures.

Creating a customized display tailored to fit your needs will result in good return on your investment and help you earn more money.

Following are three ways customization will help you earn more money:

1. Point of purchase displays are an economical way to help you target a specific market demographic.

For an example, imagine you own a soda company. You have a wonderful POP display advertising your orange soda, but this fall, you’re introducing a new cherry flavor. A customizable display can have a removable banner, panel, or other items that will enable you to “switch out” the preferred soda promotion you’re running that quarter.

In addition, you could place a customized, oversize picture of the cherry soda in the center of the display, and then remove it when your marketing focus shifts.

2. They help you introduce new products, giving them the traction they need to succeed.

This is particularly effective if your new product complements one of yours already in the marketing place. The POP display can actively reinforce your video, television and online advertisements. You’ll find that not only is the POP display less expensive than a large advertising campaign, it also has permanence—your POP display will remain in the store long after the marketing push has ended.

3. They present the perfect cross-selling opportunity

The purpose of cross selling is to encourage the buyer to purchase additional items that complement the one he or she has already purchased. Examples include the case to go with your new laptop or a chain lock and bike rack to go with the new bicycle you purchased.

A customizable display allows you to place these items beside each other or on the same display. You can easily implement additional cross-selling items to the display as they become available.

Benefits of custom POP displays aren’t limited to these three points.

You’ll find they can also:

  • Be customized to fit the space available
  • Use LED lighting to guide consumers to the product
  • Calibrate colors and logos to match the exact hue of your company’s branding
  • Can be designed for easy assembly or break-down
  • Implement textures to prompt consumer attention
  • Custom-designed displays can provide the best ROI for your marketing dollar

We can guide you through the entire process, from creative design to advanced technological engineering to efficient warehousing services. Often, we are able to help our clients find a more economical alternative to their original plan!

Ready to get started? Talk to us about your ideas and your vision. We will make it a reality.