Top 10 Ways to Cross Sell Products on Amazon

If you are an Amazon customer, you've probably noticed the different automated tools Amazon uses to entice you to increase your order size, from product recommendations at checkout to "frequently bought together" widgets on the product listing. These are great tools for Amazon to cross-sell, but not ideal for sellers given that Amazon could be recommending a competitor’s product alongside yours.

It is clear that Amazon is not the best platform when it comes to sellers wanting to cross-sell other products within their portfolio. There is no specific tool or feature that allows sellers to make recommendations or give visibility to other products in their range on a specific product listing. Instead, sellers need to be creative. In this article, I'll explore some ways to cross-sell your products on Amazon.

1. A+ Content: There are a couple of modules that allow you to add in different products, such as comparison charts. These are great modules to show alternative options and additional products in the range that might complement one another or that could create a set, for example, a treadmill and an elliptical.
2. Images: Despite Amazon having strict guidelines when it comes to the main product image, brands can get more creative with secondary images and display additional products within their range. Although if you're adopting this strategy, it needs to be made clear that the customer will not receive all items in the range when they make a purchase.
3. Videos: Similar to the images, at the end of the video you could highlight the family of products. Again, make sure it is clear to the customer that they will only get one product and that there is no way of them being misled into thinking they are buying multiple products or a set. As of June 2023, sellers enrolled in the Brand Registry and non-registered users (note you must have been selling on Amazon for at least three months) can add videos to their product listings.
4. Packaging: Some brands add leaflets or flyers in their package that introduce the customer to their wider portfolio of products. If you do this, just make sure you adhere to Amazon’s Terms of Service. For example, you cannot offer customer incentives to purchase additional products in the range through coupons or redirect them to your website.
5. Amazon Sponsored Brands: This ad option allows you to display three different products from the range. Instead of having three competing products in your range, you could offer different products that complement one another. For example, a front bike light, rear bike light, and a high visibility vest ready for the winter season. You never know, the customer could end up buying all three items.
6. Amazon Brand Store: This is where sellers have the greatest space and freedom to highlight the full range of products to the customer to cross-sell and upsell. This can be done through the use of graphics, content, and product images across multiple category pages.
7. Amazon Product Targeting: Select products from your range that you want visible on your other product pages. While this comes at a cost, this is a good way to get exposure to certain products that might complement other products in the range. For example, displaying a coffee grinder on the same page as a coffee press.
8. Variations: Amazon has strict guidelines when it comes to variation creation. Products should only be added to a variation if they are the same product but just vary slightly, for example in size, flavor, color, or scent. By displaying multiple variants, a customer might opt to buy more than one variant, such as espresso and cappuccino coffee pods.
9. Amazon Bundles: An easy way to cross-sell is by creating bundles and putting different products together as one single set. For example, you might consider offering a plug, phone cable, and portable battery charger in one package. The only downside is that Amazon doesn’t support virtual bundles on the seller side and the item must be pre-packaged before arriving at the Amazon Fulfillment Center if you are selling via FBA.
10. Offering Promotions: To introduce other products in the range, sellers can create a promotion. For example, buy X product and get product Y free or get 5% off X when you purchase Y. I have seen these being used less these days, as they can be quite confusing and do not convert well since they are not very visible or clear to the customer.

As you can see there are lots of ways to cross-sell on Amazon for both resellers and brand owners. Many sellers focus heavily on driving sales on an individual item, but with a few simple tricks they could end up doubling the size of the customer order by cross-selling.