Creating effective cross-selling and upselling is a mixture of art and science

[mandy]

Effective cross-selling and upselling is a mixture of art and science—coming up with that certain item a customer just can’t refuse to buy. But most online merchants have yet to master the craft. Although 76% of online retailers use at least one method of cross-selling or upselling, only 9% of online buyers say they used site suggestions...

“Retailers are trying their best but it’s hard to get a lot of traction out of cross-sells and upsells,” says Patti Freeman Evans, Jupiter Research analyst. “Consumers are not making impulse buys.”...

But for retailers to be able to select the best strategy, they must be able to measure results. Many times, what might seem like a slam-dunk cross-sell idea flops. “People think just because they implement cross-sells, it’s going to drive up average order value and sales, but that’s not necessarily the case,”...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=18411

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Wal-mart`s cross-sell lesson: When relying on technology, test a lot
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