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Cross-sell

A cross-sell is a product suggested to go with one a shopper is already buying, such as a case for a laptop or a filter for a fridge.

Also known as
  • Cross-selling
  • Complementary products

Head of delivery

What it means

A cross-sell recommends something to buy as well, not instead. WooCommerce describes cross-sells as products you promote in the cart “based on items the customer has already added”, and says they are “typically complementary items”.1

Shopify’s equivalent is complementary products, which it describes as add-ons shown in a section such as “Pair it with”.2

Neither platform works them out for you. WooCommerce generates related products itself, but you choose cross-sells by hand for each product.1 Shopify creates related products automatically, while complementary ones “need to be manually set up”.2

Think of it like this

Think of the shop assistant who, as you pay for a torch, asks whether you have batteries for it.

For example

A fridge water filter fits four fridge models. Held as compatibility rows, one per model, those rows show which fridges you stock should offer the filter as a cross-sell. In a WooCommerce product CSV, each of those fridges then lists the filter’s SKU in its Cross-sells column.3

Why it matters

Cross-sells are chosen by hand, so they are only as good as the data behind them. Suggest a filter that does not fit, and the shopper buys the wrong part. The pairs should come from a confirmed compatibility list, never from a supplier’s “fits most”.

Not to be confused with

An upsell is a different thing. A cross-sell is bought as well as the product, while an upsell is offered instead of it, usually as a better or dearer alternative.1

Sources

  1. WooCommerce documentation. Set up Related Products, Up-Sells and Cross-Sells.
  2. Shopify.dev. Product recommendations.
  3. WooCommerce documentation. Product CSV Importer and Exporter.

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