Spring is here in St. Louis, which means that we’ve returned to our lovely weekend jaunts to the Tower Grove Farmer’s Market. This weekend I experienced a few different sales strategies (some that worked, some that didn’t) that may have some applications to my business and yours.
There’s a tasty baklava stand at the farmer’s market, and the person who runs it uses a few subtle–but very effective–sales strategies. The first is that he frequently states a bundled price instead of a per-piece price. For example, he was offering some cheesy bread next to the baklava, and when I asked about it, he said, “Today it’s three pieces for $9.” Right away, my perception of this product is that it comes in sets of three, and I wasn’t comparing it to the option of just trying one (even though I’d spend less overall that way).
This bundling strategy is a little harder to pull off on a webstore than I’d like it to be (this is an area where it’s much easier to do via crowdfunding than when you’re pulling from current inventory). Designing a bundle is pretty easy–we could group together Tapestry and the 2 expansions, for example. But getting a webstore to account for each individual unit in the overall inventory accounting is more difficult. We haven’t found a Shopify app that does this well.
The second tactic involves upselling to a psychologically pleasing dollar amount. This happened after I added a few pieces of baklava to the order. The seller revealed that the total price was $19, and he said, “I can add another piece to make it a nice even $20.” Of course I said yes. I didn’t need more baklava, and I was paying with a credit card, so paying $20 was no more convenient than paying $19, yet there was something appealing about rounding up to a “nice even $20” and getting the bonus piece. That’s the word–it felt like a bonus.
This upselling tactic is something we see via crowdfunding add-ons, on webstores, and at conventions, though I don’t think I’ve seen an e-commerce app built around the idea of a “nice even number.” Like, if I have $43 worth of items in my cart and I was prompted with a deal that would bring it up to a “nice even $50,” depending on the item, I might be quite likely to accept!
After stocking up on cheesy bread and baklava, I headed over to another stand where I bought something despite a sales tactic that didn’t quite click with me. I’d never visited this stand before, but they had an item that looked delicious. Remember that. My sole focus was, “I want that food because it looks delicious.”
The person at the stand launched into a lengthy presentation about the health benefits of the food, how the nutritional value has changed over time, the source of the ingredients, and the special of the week. Meanwhile, all I wanted was for them to tell me that their standard product was delicious.
The vendor couldn’t read my mind, nor can I expect them too. But the person could have focused on discovering what was important to me instead of throwing darts in the hopes that one would hit the target. If they were selling me loaf of bread, for example, they could have asked about how often I eat bread, my favorite type of bread how I eat, what I put on it, and how I feel afterwards.
As I said, I ended up buying the product anyway, as it looked great. But the experience was just a great reminder that each customer has their own reason for considering a product, and the only way I can learn that reason is by listening and asking questions.
What do you think about these sales tactics? Have you recently learned any interesting sales strategies while visiting local markets?
Also read:
- Specialization vs Diversification: A Farmer’s Market Observation
- 3 Quick Tips About Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and E-Commerce
- Sell Me This Pen
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28 Comments on “Bundling, Upselling, and Selling the Wrong Feature: Farmer’s Market Observations”
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Not sure how well the rounding up mechanic would work for an online purchase. My gut tells me it is very related to the actual interaction between buyer and seller and at the farmers market or other scenario i am aware it is very hard currency focused even if I will be using a card. Much less creating an app that does that well.
Some years ago now, I went to a lecture where the speaker had his book available for sale afterwards. The price was “£19.99 or, if you pay with cash, there’s an optional discount of negative one penny” – which works out as paying the extra penny to avoid having to handle the change.
When a vendor leads with the upsell, it usually causes me to put up my mental defense system because it makes me 100% certain that the vendor is more focused on the sale than on customers’ needs.
I like how Amazon and KS do it instead, where they show you the product that you clicked on (and presumably wanted to learn about) before going on to show potentially distracting add-ons.
Making the sale is always subordinate to meeting the customer’s needs. When I was doing a lot of software consulting, I routinely suggested low-cost ways for my customers to meet their needs without paying for my time (or paying for less time). Nobody ever complained 😉
My tactics are more for in-person, so I’m not sure how they would translate to online sales, but I would upsale the heck out of bacon on the pizza truck I worked on by complimenting their pizza choice, then asking them if they had it with bacon yet. Then saying it is auh-mazing with bacon and it’s only a dollar more. Many times I would throw in a description of the crunch it added if when I read their face they seemed hesitant. (You can just kinda tell when someone needs more information on the benefits.) The owner who worked on the truck with me thought this was hilarious bc I am a vegetarian and have never had bacon on my pizza. I felt genuine in what I was saying though bc repeat customers would come back and tell me they were glad they got the bacon last time at my suggestion and wanted it again. They would even be excited about it!
The other tactic I often use is somewhat related to the previous one…compliments. When the person approaches give them a genuine compliment. (If you need help finding genuine compliments, try practicing non-judgment and/or gratitude as it helps to strengthen that neuropathway.) I find it helps people feel more accepted and at ease. It also often catches people off guard as they are prepared for a sales pitch when they approach. Honestly, I also just like helping people feel good about themselves. :)
Thanks for sharing, Mandy! I really like both of these approaches. If I may tag onto the “compliments” point, it always feels good to me as a customer when the vendor says, “Great choice.” I’m sure they say that to most people, but it still feels good to hear. :)
That last one is a great observation. I found this from having a booth at Essen a couple years running now. I used to begin conversations with folks by launching into my spiel about the game, but now I use a tactic of listening – first I just say hi, often times people will immediately tell ME what they want. If not, if they hesitate or seem unsure, I’ll ask them questions, like: “have you heard of this game? What are your favorite types of games? What are you looking for?” etc. Then it’s really easy to let them know the pros and cons of what I have.
I kinda wish this were possible with advertising. So much of ads are just putting info out in a one-way stream. I get that cookies, etc make privacy a problem, but I wish there was a way to advertise by “asking questions” rather than just yelling out into the void. Imagine if you could start a Kickstarter page with questions about what you want…could be really interesting. Or super annoying!
Anyway, thanks as usual for the food for thought.
I love that question-driven approach, Malachi!
We’ve been doing the buy two get one free deal at comic conventions for a few years and it seems to work really well. But online like you said, it’s tricky. I think no matter what tactic you employ, the product has to do a lot of heavy lifting on its own and be able to sell itself. A good looking/well displayed product is more than half the battle.
I frequently use the “2 fer” sales tactic to great effect, but not in the same way that is described. I’ll say (for example) $25 each or 2 for $40. Maybe I’ll start leading with the group price instead of the individual.
I like the rounding up idea to include an extra product, and I have lots of low price point items that would work with this. I’ll have to give that a try.
My favorite sales tactic probably isn’t a sales tactic at all, but a reward for being environmentally conscious. Starbucks gives you 10 cents off if you bring your own cup. Grocery stores in CA now charge you for plastic bags, which encourages people to bring their own. I wonder if Stonemaier could offer reduced shipping for people who opt out of bubble wrap. Often, the cardboard box is sufficient protection, especially for small/light items, and I bet some people would be happy to get a smaller box with no big plastic padding for a reduced rate.
That’s really neat, Ryan! Though my hope (for us, at least) is that we can offer that type of thing without asking the customer to do anything special (though we can still highlight it).
Is it wrong that I learned to check out the wonderful smelling baklava stand because he also sells cheesy bread instead of marketing? Lol.
In all seriousness, I don’t like bundles. In consumables, it tends to be too much product for me. In durable goods, it’s either more than I have space for or a duplicate of what I already own. So, I’m left feeling a little burned to not get a good reasonable deal. In terms of board games, it has made me want to wait to get the newest title from some companies, because I know there will be a good bundle deal to come when they will certainly do the expansion. Plus, by waiting, I’m almost certain to have tried it before buying to know if it is one I have to have on my shelves.
Tina: It’s not wrong at all! :)
I’m glad you brought up the potential downsides of bundles (or free-shipping tiers): Especially in games, they actively encourage the customer to wait instead of acting now.
I appreciate the effectiveness of the “bundling” strategy – certain grocery stores do it constantly. But I personally don’t like it when it’s clearly a strategy to sell more products as opposed to improving value for the customer. In these cases, the per-unit cost is the same – “2 for $5” also means “1 for $2.50” but I have to do additional math to get there. At the same time, it adds uncertainty, because maybe it is a savings, but they aren’t explicit. So I end up having to ask, because I really did only want one, and that’s a hassle.
Some stores are explicit, where the tag says in big letters “2 for $5” and then in small text “price for 1 is $3”. I appreciate this much more because they are being clear about the value proposition.
Just something to consider.
I’m sorry if this is a dumb question, but could you not create a set number of bundles and track them as a unique inventory item (rather than tracking it as an order of 3 items for example) or does that overcomplicate things and/or not get you to the intended goal?
Marc: You’re right, we definitely could do that. It creates a little more hassle in terms of inventory management and how we communicate it to each fulfillment center, but it’s possible. I’d probably only do that for a special sale, though, not an ongoing offer.
Hey Jamey, we have used the App Bundle Builder on our last Shopify Store (not game related). It transfers the orders still including the single SKU, so inventory was not a problem. We did test a lot of apps though until we found the one that works how we want it. But we did use the software Billbee still between the store and inventory to make all invoices. Billbee can also adjust the orders and divide bundles into single SKU if the App is not doing it properly.
Wow, Laia, thank you so much! I really appreciate this recommendation. We very may well give it a try.
I believe Bold Bundles in the App Store will do what you seek with the promos and inventory with Shopify.
I wish you were right, Rob, but we tried that specific app for a while, and it did not update inventory properly. We ended up uninstalling it for that reason.
I find our marketeers sometimes suggest a companion item. You know what would be amazing with that bread? This olive oil / hummus. And often you think ooh, yes, it would. You didn’t intend to buy that item but now you do. It’s clever because they don’t suggest the bread is anything but delicious, but that the experience will be even better with this companion item. It’s tricky to think how that might work with board games. I guess the nearest thing is ‘if you like that product, you may also like this product’. Not quite the same though.
Gary: Totally, I really like that method too. Like, if a bread stand also featured a few different spreads and bespoke butters, complete with pairing recommendations, I would be inclined to buy both.
“I don’t think I’ve seen an e-commerce app built around the idea of a “nice even number.””
it’s not identical, but I’ve encountered more than one website that includes the “you’re $x.xx away from free shipping” as you check out. The best implementation of this I’ve seen then immediately had a link that would show you items that were the proper amount to take you over the limit.
Matt: That’s clever! I’ll look into that.
I don’t work with Shopify apps so I’m not familiar there, but WordPress/WooCommerce has an option for product bundling that accounts for inventory and items as expected.
https://woocommerce.com/products/product-bundles/ Might be something to keep in your back pocket if you ever wanted to try testing out different eCommerce platforms.
Seeing a product on sale for $3 each but advertised as 3 for $9 is one of my favorite sales strategies. Even knowing that each item could be bought for the same discount it just feels like buying the full 3 items as advertised is the right thing to do.
The holiday season could be an area to explore advertising a game or accessory at an ‘X for $Y’ with the message to ‘gift’ the items. (Who doesn’t want to pass out copies of Rolling Realms for Christmas?)
On the Stonemaier store, one of my favorite upsells are the $1 signed cards and the 4-pack of plastic containers. The expense is minor, rounds out an order, and doesn’t adjust (from consumer’s perspective) shipping. I have local shops that keep things like dice, stickers, promos, or other small items next to the checkouts – this feels like a similar in-person tactic. Much like that last candybar or bottle of soda at the grocery store checkout.
For online retailers, the sales tactic that catches my eye most often is a ‘free’ or ‘discounted’ shipping tier. I don’t know how many times I’ve tracked down an extra box of sleeves, an expansion, or even another wishlist game just to hit that shipping mark. Even when it may cost more than not buying the extras.
Thanks for sharing that about Woo Commerce! While we’re fully in the Shopify system, I’m curious to try something like what you described (X for $Y, or some sort of bundle), perhaps at a limited quantity so we can manage inventory correctly.
Berzley, I am right there with you in purchasing an extra item to get free shipping. Usually for me, I see free shipping on orders over $99 with promo code “#####” if my cart has over half the price and there is something I was considering but had originally passed on but it will put me in the free shipping tier I usually go back and add it to my cart. I use PayPal Credit for most my online shopping and they too have an on going promo that if you purchase something over $100 you get no interest for 6 months. So, it turns into a two deals in one purchase for me. I will say it also usually works in the opposite aspect for a vendor when purchasing products as well. I wanted to buy Libertalia when Stonemaier released it but because it won’t be over $100 and I know I will be purchasing the Wingspan expansion as well when it comes out I have chosen to wait on purchasing Libertalia until I can get my cart over $100 and if I need to add some extras (tapestry dice, signed card, wingspan neoprene mats, etc) to hit that price point I will as well.
Like Jamey said though everyone is different and a promo of free shipping might be the determining factor or in his case of it just looked delicious might be enough to get someone to purchase the product.
Side note: Jamey I love these strategy topics that you cover and how you are always trying to think of ways to make Stonemaier a better company. You guys are doing a fantastic job and I appreciate the value of being a champion because of the hard work I know that everyone you work with puts into every game/expansion. Keep up the great work.
Very much appreciated!!!
Thanks Nathan! I appreciate that, and it’s interesting to hear your thoughts on free shipping thresholds. We’ve discussed them at various times for our webstore, but we’ve never really gotten the math to add up. Perhaps we’ll revisit it. :)