To be honest, I'm a big fan of Amazon. Not a single time that I go on Amazon to order something would I check out with just what I intend to buy at first. They always manage to sell me 1 or 2 more things via their upsells, cross-sells and bundles. Yep, that's what I like most about Amazon.

How Amazon upsells

What upsells mean is simple and straightforward: upgrade customer's cart level by selling them more. How Amazon does it, though, is intuitive and effective. I remember one time that I looked for some ceramic kitchen bowls and dishes for my sister who is crazy about marine animals, I was struck by their upsell popup. The popup caught my attention immediately with many alternative options for what I'm looking at. What's worth noticing is the recommended alternatives are more highly priced, but you wouldn't know that until you click to view each item. Brilliant, isn't it? They want to make sure you're captivated by the product image first, not intimidated by the higher price.

Another way that Amazon smartly upsells customers is suggest add-on plans to the main product. Look at the example below:

You pay $150 for your favorite electric guitar, why bother saving $20 for protection coverage in 3 years? To me, this is such an irresistible deal and paying a little $20 more seems not a big deal. See how amazing upselling is?

How Amazon cross-sells

If you shop on Amazon, you must be familiar with the related product sliders presented densly on any product page. If you're looking for a shampoo for treating hair loss, chances are that you need special supplements or products to prevent hair fall. Amazon predicts what you need based on your browsing behaviors and suggest options to you even before you search for them. That's how that nail the cross-selling tactic.

How Amazon sells product bundles

You might be a bit confused between cross-sells and product bundles because both tactics give recommendation of relevant offerings to the main product. While cross-sells list out all related options and let customers choose what they want to buy, product bundles set up the whole package and sell as combos.

In the case of an electric guitar, customers are highly likely in need of some cables to connect the guitar to other devices, and a sound amplifier. Amazon pairs these items up nicely for a total price of $225 and encourage customers to add all to cart.

I would suggest enticing customers with a small discount on the total price, but Amazon actually doesn't need to do so as what they recommend to customers are perfectly relevant and necessary.