Bundling is not a new strategy. eCommerce brands have been implementing it for years. However, basic bundling isn’t enough to hook customers anymore.
Traditional bundling has many limitations. For instance, lack of personalization, emotional disconnect with customers, and the inability to match customer preference, among others.
With increasing competition in the eCommerce space, brands are trying new and innovative Shopify bundling strategies to engage customers and increase sales.
Not only do these strategies increase customer loyalty, they also help increase the average order value (AOV), eventually, contributing to increasing profits.
So what are these strategies? And can you implement them in your Shopify stores?
In this blog, we explore four such advanced Shopify bundling strategies that you can try on your store.
Let’s get started!
Must try advanced Shopify bundling strategies
Here are four strategies that can help your Shopify business grow via bundling.
1. Build-a-box bundles
Most people associate bundles to a few different products selected by the store and sold as one pack or bundle. But bundles can also be put together by customers too. Yes! That’s a build-a-box bundle.
This Shopify bundling strategy has benefits for both customers and Shopify brands. For customers, it enables personalization, provides flexibility, higher satisfaction, convenience, and price benefits
For Shopify businesses, it leads to higher conversion rates, improved data insights, increased sales, and customer loyalty.
Some products for which build-a-box bundles work well are:
- Snack boxes: customers can choose snacks of their choice for a fixed price or variable price bundle
- Beauty and self-care kits: customers can pick cosmetics, self-care products, beauty products, make up, etc. based on their skin type and requirements
- Apparel packs: customers can pick garments and accessories based on their size, color, style preference
- Gourmet gift boxes: select coffee, tea, chocolate, wines, alcohols, etc.
Now, there are a lot of build-a-box apps that support bundling on Shopify stores. But you must choose the ones that are relevant for your Shopify store.
Some build-a-box apps preferred by Shopify merchants are:
- Appstle Bundles & Discounts: Appstle offers comprehensive and user-friendly features in the app, such as Shopify bundles, mix and match buncles, BOGO, Buy x Get Y, frequently bought together, bundle builder, custom bundles, and options for upsell, volume discount, etc.
- Bundler: Provides easy to create and manage product bundle options, mix and match bundles, upselling, etc.
- Selleasy: Enables upselling and cross-selling, frequently bought together features, product recommendations, etc.
Here’s an example of a gardening build your own bundle:
2. Mystery box bundle
Mystery boxes are based on the concept of offering a surprise to drive customer engagement. As the name suggests, these are bundles or boxes that have surprise products. Customers are not aware of the bundle contents.
Mystery box Shopify strategy works well because it creates value and adds excitement to an otherwise simple shopping experience. Going beyond transactional, these boxes offer an experience. This psychology is proven by a brand that saw only 15% return rate as opposed to the industry’s normal return rate of 40%.
That said, how you price mystery boxes on Shopify is critical. Here are some pricing strategies you could apply:
- Keep the value proposition in mind when setting prices
- Typically, brands offer products that are twice or thrice the value of the box price
- Clearly communicate and visually show the value and price proposition
- Personalization is a key Shopify bundling strategy. Customize mystery boxes for different customer segments
Further, lower your risks by doing this:
- Have detailed product category descriptions
- Share images of product examples
- Make return policy and returns easy
- Provide efficient customer support
Example:
3. Subscription bundles
Another effective Shopify bundling strategy is subscription bundles. This bundling strategy brings predictable revenue for Shopify stores. With subscriptions, customers enter into long-term association with brands and receive period deliveries.
Subscriptions help brands build deeper relationships with customers. This ongoing association also offers multiple opportunities for brands to interact and engage with customers. Subscriptions not only increase customer lifetime value (CLV), but also reduce acquisition costs.
Another key advantage of subscriptions is the potential to gather data from subscriber history and offer personalized subscription bundles. Shopify brands, too, can create customized subscription experiences using tools like the Appstle Subscriptions App.
Appstle makes it easy to customize subscription bundle plans. For instance, merchants can set up different types of Shopify subscriptions – build a box, fixed bundles, curated subscription bundles, and more. Moreover, Appstle features allow customers to change, edit, and customize their subscription bundles.
To retain your subscribers, try these best practices:
- Keep your Shopify product bundling strategy exciting by consistently adding something new
- Add surprise elements, such as new products, samplers, discount coupons, etc.
- Allow flexibility of changing, swapping, pausing, and customizing subscriptions
Example:
4. Wholesale bundles
Bundles are not only for D2C brands. Bundling is an effective strategy for bulk buyers and wholesalers in the B2B segment. Consider this statistic: The global B2B eCommerce industry is expected to reach USD 13.68 trillion this year, and USD 60.62 trillion by 2034.
However, B2B Shopify wholesale bundles require a slightly different strategy. First, as a wholesaler you will have to understand your business customers’ needs well. You will have to club assorted products together that meet retailer customers needs.
For instance, if your customers are salons, you will have to create professional-use beauty products from multiple brands in a bundle.
Another aspect of Shopify wholesale bundles is to have access control. In wholesale business, pricing and product availability keep changing based on the market. And hence, it’s critical to have access to change the pricing and availability of your bundles on your Shopify store. For this, use a Shopify bundle app, which allows complete access and control, such as Appstle Bundles & Discounts.
Example: Bundles offers wholesale fashion bundles to brands
When and how to mix these Shopify bundling strategies
Now that we know some effective strategies, let’s understand how to use them. If you want a profitable Shopify business, you will have to apply multiple strategies to cater to different customer segments.
Let’s look at some strategies:
- Mystery boxes to cater to customer segments that like to discover and use new products
- Build-a-box-bundles for customers who prefer to have control and flexibility and find value in this form of bundles
- Subscription bundles for customers who prefer convenience, price benefits, and long-term streamlined shopping experiences
- Wholesale bundles to cater to businesses that prefer buying in bulk for price benefits
Let’s explore these strategies further with an example.
Here’s how a beauty and cosmetics brand can implement many of these Shopify bundling strategies.
| Strategy | Type of products | Customer segment | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mystery Bundle | New products, new shades, sampler packs – use data-based predictive sorting | Those who like to try new products, are excited about new shades and trends | Slight discount on new launches, and free samplers |
| Subscription Bundle | Personalized and customized selection by customers – use product recommendations and integrate loyalty program | Those who prefer convenience, discounted pricing, long-term relationship with brand, and hassle-free shopping | Consistent discounted price for every bundle that adds up as significant savings when calculated for annual subscriptions |
| Wholesale Bundles | Create wholesale bundles of most-popular products, products that require to be cleated from inventory – use A/B testing and market trends | Cosmetics retailers, salons, individual make up professionals, theatre companies | Discounted pricing on each bundle |
| Build-a-box-bundle | Keep one mandatory product, and allow customers to choose others or allow customers to choose all products | Individual customers, gifting bundles | Keep one high-value mandatory product or star product and offer discount on each bundle |
Here’s an example from how Elf cosmetics uses bundling:
Wrapping up – ready to implement Shopify bundling strategy on your store?
By applying these different strategies – subscription, build-a-box, wholesale, and mystery bundles – you can take your Shopify business to the next level of growth.
However, experiment with one or two of these strategies rather than implementing all of them in one go. Try A/B testing, see which strategy works best for your customers, products, and industry.
To ensure high performance and maximum returns from these strategies, you will need a smart partner to help with Shopify product bundling features and processes.
Meet Appstle Bundle & Discounts – a smart app for Shopify and Shopify Plus stores, Appstle’s bundling capabilities include the ability to create different types of bundles, automate bundle managing, upselling and marketing features, integrating subscription and recurring orders, easy migration, and more.
Install Appstle Bundles & Discounts on your Shopify store today!
