How product bundling can boost your ecommerce sales

Every ecommerce business owner knows the challenges of keeping inventory moving, attracting new shoppers, and keeping existing customers happy. One way to accomplish all three is to sell your products in bundles. Let's look at what product bundling is, the benefits, and some simple tips on doing it.

What is product bundling, and why is it important?

In the simplest terms, product bundling offers multiple items — typically sold individually — as a combined bundle for a reduced price. Product bundling is important because it gives ecommerce sellers the chance to upsell their inventory and increase average cart value while at the same time creating satisfied and loyal customers.

What are the benefits of product bundling?

There are many benefits to product bundling for both consumers and retailers.

Combination bundles

One advantage of using product bundling is that it allows you to offer your customers products they may have been on the fence about buying in combination with something they were already planning to buy. Not only are you increasing your profits while still offering your customers a good value for their money, but you're encouraging your customers to try new products they may have ignored otherwise.

Customer convenience

Product bundling is also convenient for the customer. Instead of having to search through a store's entire online inventory and add items to their cart one at a time, customers can instead buy a bundle of the same products they were looking for.

Personalized curation

Research shows consumers appreciate curated suggestions as long as sellers don't do it in a pushy way. Curated options keep customers from feeling overwhelmed with too many choices and often include items the customer may have forgotten otherwise. Ensuring your customers have all their needs met makes their lives easier, and they are likely to become repeat shoppers.

10 Tips to optimize product bundling

There are several ways online sellers can optimize their product bundling. Below are a few tips for making the best of your bundles.

Emphasize Value

One of the most important things to remember when optimizing your bundles is to be aware of customer value perception: customers will always go with products that they deem the most' worth it'. The four main types of perceived value are functional value, monetary value, social value, and psychological value. Hit on one or more of these values in the product descriptions for your bundles to encourage your customers to buy.

Mix it up

Instead of pure bundling, utilize mixed product bundling. People are more likely to purchase bundles with different items instead of a bundle of the same product. Use artificial intelligence to help you craft the most appealing combinations. Customer data such as browser history and past purchases can help you personalize your offerings and improve your relationship with the customer.

Ensure that bundles make sense

Make sure to cross-sell products that go well together. It is vital to create a bundle with products that go together – whether they can be used together or complement each other.

Bundle slow moving stock

Bundle less-popular products or items that are overstocked with best-sellers to reduce inventory. By pairing slow-moving merchandise with more popular items, you increase your inventory turnover rates and lower the chances of ending up with dead stock.

Offer accessories

Pair main products with accessories. For example, if a company sells phones, they should consider bundling phones, SD cards, and phone cases together, as the latter two items are likely to be forgotten by customers.

Provide incentives

Your customers will only purchase your bundles if they have enough incentives. Ensure the products within the bundles make sense together and that the bundle's price is lower than the price of the two items when bought individually. If the customer isn't saving any money, there's no reason they would purchase a bundle.

Test, test, test

Try A/B testing to find the best combination of products. Also called split testing, A/B testing presents 50% of users with an alternate version of your bundle. This testing allows you to directly compare different bundles to see which will sell more.

Marketing

Promote your bundles. There are several ways to do this: One is advertising your bundles on the main page of your website. This way, they get more exposure to customers visiting your site. Also, consider offering bundles to your customers on your checkout page based on the products in their cart. Upselling drives an estimated 4% of all online retail sales and can give your revenues a nice bump.

Give bundles their own spot

Creating a separate page to display all of your bundles is advantageous because online shoppers who are in a hurry and looking to save money will be able to see all of your bundles on the same page, as opposed to having to look through individually priced items as well.

Listen to customers

Be consistent and pay close attention to your customers. Pay attention to buyer behaviour patterns, as they tell you what is selling and what isn't, allowing you to decide better what items to include in your bundles.

Final thoughts on product bundling

Product bundling is beneficial to both consumers and sellers. The consumer pays less for more products, saving them money. It allows the seller to get rid of old stock, introduce new stock, and increase profits. It is proven to effectively and efficiently raise sales when used correctly.

See a demo of product bundling in action!

Our Urban Hipster Drupal Commerce demo site is a fully-featured example of what you can do with Drupal Commerce. We've set up some basic product bundles that you can try out for yourself. Visit the demo site (click the banner below) and view any product with the 'Bundle and Save!' flag.

---

Laura Gayle is a full-time blogger and creator of the Business Woman Guide, a trusted resource for women trying to start or grow businesses on their own terms. Laura is passionate about ecommerce, and the ways technology is helping to rejuvenate the American dream.