Cross-Selling

What is cross-selling?

Cross-selling is offering relevant add-on or complementary products to a customer who is already considering or buying something — for example a case and a screen protector alongside a phone. It differs from upselling, where you instead offer a more expensive or upgraded version of the same product. Cross-selling widens the cart across products, while upselling lifts the value of a single item.

Why does cross-selling matter?

Cross-selling is one of the most direct ways to raise average order value (AOV) without acquiring new traffic. The customer is already in a buying mindset, so a well-chosen offer costs no extra marketing — it simply increases revenue per order. It works best when the recommendations are relevant and priced below the main product, so they feel like a natural addition rather than a push for more sales.

Common use cases

• Product page: “Customers also bought” or complementary items below the description.
• Cart and cart drawer: suggest accessories right before checkout.
• Post-purchase: offers on the thank-you page that add on without re-entering payment.
• Email: recommendations in the order confirmation or a follow-up flow.
• Product bundles: group complementary items at one combined price.

Shopify perspective

Shopify’s free Search & Discovery app lets you manually curate complementary products that the theme can show on the product page. For algorithmic suggestions, the theme uses the Storefront API product recommendations, where the RELATED intent is automatic while COMPLEMENTARY requires you to curate the items yourself. Post-purchase and checkout cross-sells can be powered by checkout apps, but fully customizing checkout itself typically requires Shopify Plus.