Power of Bundle !!

Product bundle or bundling of products is a powerful concept in merchandise planning in the Retail sector.

The main objective for any retailer is to maximize its revenue potential. And product bundling is a concept that helps in achieving the above objective.

A curated collection of complementary products can help you capture casual browsers and eager-to-buy shoppers alike.

What is Product Bundling?

Product bundling is when you package complementary products together, often sold at a discounted price or with an added value. In retail terminology, it is also called as Multibuys.

Sometimes, retailers package the product bundle in a different way, either in a gift box or special wrapping.

Product bundles become especially popular during the holidays, but it’s a tactic that retailers can use year-round to generate sales.

Product bundling can also refer to cross-selling, where customers are offered complementary products while they are shopping or at checkout.

This approach to product bundling is more commonly used by e-commerce retailers – think Amazon’s “frequently bought together” feature.

For example, an electronics retailer may offer a ‘bundle package’ with a laptop purchase coupled with carrying case, mouse, mouse pad, headphones, and power-bank or external disk drive for a lower price than the combined RRP of each product.

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Making commercial sense from Product bundles

Let’s look at this widely examined study from Harvard Business School.

Essentially, the study examined a tactic Nintendo employed when selling video games and consoles. The gaming brand bundled the two products together, leading to 100,000 units sold and more than a million dollars in video game sales. When Nintendo only bundled games together, bundle sales decreased by 20%.

Bundling the right items together can also spark a spike in your own sales. This is because bundling can help increase the perceived value of the products in the eyes of your customer.

For example, if you’re making the products available at a discount, a shopper will see that they’re getting a deal and be more likely to buy. Or if they’re beautifully packaged, a consumer may appreciate that they don’t need to gift wrap it themselves.

How to Bundle?

One approach is to bundle products that compliment the main product example, with a purchase of a suit, you could bundle a shirt and a tie and a pocket square.

Another approach is to bundle underperforming or ‘at risk of obsolescence’ products with strong performers, it is less customer-centric but can deliver strong results for a business that is looking to reduce excess inventories or facing the aging problem with inventory.

Case 1: Bath & Body Works.

Each product bundle will ideally have a theme. Bath & Body Works is well-known for its product bundles based on scent. This not only creates synergy with the products and makes it more likely that customers will enjoy everything included in the bundle, but it also makes sense for your marketing. You can run specifically targeted campaigns around the theme for each bundle.

You’ll also want to make sure you’re highlighting the added benefit for customers.

“Value” Creation

The primary reason that bundling is an effective tool to increase sales is that customers who purchase bundled products feel like they are getting value for their money. A shirt which retails for $100 feels like a great deal when it is marketed as a free add on with a $300 suit.

Watch the video here to understand the concept of bundle pricing.

In case if you are a retail owner, retail professional and want a cutting edge solutions/ ideas to turn around your retail venture into profits, then you know who your GO TO person is. Feel free to reach out to me on riteshmohan@yahoo.com

About the author

Ritesh Mohan is a passionate retail professional with over 20 years in the Retail sector, handling some of the biggest brands in beauty, fashion and fragrances retail & FMCG sector. He has been instrumental in the growth of some of the regional brands as well in the Middle East region. Ritesh specializes in Retail management, Product development, and Brand Management, Retail Operations, Sales Management, and Franchising & Business Management. He strongly believes in empowering business owners with his wisdom & experience of around two decades in the industry.