The difference between cross-sell and upsell

The Difference Between Cross-Sell and Upsell

What is cross-selling?
Encouraging customers to purchase a product or a service that goes along with the one they have already bought from you is known as cross-selling.
If you have sold someone some tea, the natural product to cross-sell with it would be a cup or a mug. If you are selling someone a phone, a phone cover, or a screen guard is the item you should look to cross-sell.
Cross-sell items complement each other, so the customer has a reason to purchase both.


What is upselling?
Upselling is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase a higher-end product than the one that they are buying. It is done during the purchase process, not after.
The simplest way to explain upselling is through the following example:
If you go to a fast food restaurant and order a medium-sized drink and they offer to sell you a larger one for a small addition to the total price, they are upselling the drink to you.


Cross-sell and upsell are often used interchangeably, but this should not be the case. The two terms are different.
Cross-sell, as stated above, works with complementary or related goods. Think shoes and socks, eyeliner, and mascara. Upsell, however, works only with higher-end goods. A simple phone versus a smartphone, or a small screen television versus a big screen television.

Marketers may choose to cross-sell to a customer during or after a purchase, but upselling occurs during the purchase process before the final purchase is made.

Remember this about cross-sell:
It involves complementary or related products,
Increases the cart value by adding products of a lower value than the original
And is practiced during or after the sale.

Upsell, on the other hand:
Involves a costlier alternative product,
Increases cart value,
And is practiced during the sale, not after.

Updated on: 08/12/2022