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4 Important Techniques for Increasing Bulk Purchases

4 minutes read
techniques for increasing bulk purchases

Discounting has become an ugly word in DTC marketing these days. Potential buyers want to feel like they are getting value from your store so what are some alternative strategies that you can use to offer value without a straight-up percentage discount for bulk purchases.

There are many ways to achieve this and offering the same product to your customers in bulk is a creative way to sell more at economies of scaled-down pricing. When your store sells products in bulk quantities and it’s not a wholesale store, it can be difficult to incentivize new customers to buy items in larger quantities.

A bulk purchase is quite different from a routine purchase. It means that you buy the same product in bulk to save money per unit price.

Offering a bulk discount is an established strategy for Shopify store owners and for e-commerce in general.

When you’re selling a large quantity of items, your customers might be willing to spend more for the convenience of buying it together rather than purchasing each piece individually. When a customer buys bulk, they have committed to your brand in a deeper way.

So how do you encourage bulk purchases?

There are 4 important techniques for optimizing your conversion rate and increasing profitability when selling products in bulk.

1) Create Customized Pricing for Customers

Offering discounts is the most basic way to entice customers to buy in bulk. If a customer were to buy two of the same product at a regular price, they could get an additional 20% off when they add it to their cart.

Consider offering a discount if customers buy different items in bulk. You can even personalize the discount based on the customer’s last purchase with your store. For example, if they bought “Product A” last month, you can offer them 20% off “Product B” if they buy two or more of that product.

2) Offer extra discounts

Offering discounts for bulk purchases increases sales. A discount on volume purchases can help you boost your profit margins while also making it easier to move older inventory. In some cases, a discount on bulk purchases can even encourage customers to buy more products than they originally planned.

Boost your profit margins with bulk purchases

You can encourage your customers to purchase more goods by offering them extra discounts on their order value or on shipping costs. Offering shoppers free shipping on orders over $100 or giving them an additional 10% off if they purchase more than 10 units of the same product are two creative ways to approach this strategy.

Offer free shipping with a minimum purchase amount. Free shipping is one of the best ways to get people to complete the purchase. It’s also one of the easiest ways for businesses to increase their profit margins by removing the cost of shipping from their list of expenses. Offering free standard shipping with a minimum purchase amount or providing a discount on express shipping for bulk purchases is a winning combined strategy.

3) Flat/Percentage Discounts

There are many different techniques you can use to incentivize customers to buy more from you.

Offer tiered pricing discounts. Customers who spend less than $100 get $5 off and those who spend over $100 get $10 off.

Flat discounts are the most straightforward method of incentivizing a customer to increase their purchase value without making them do the mental math of what that discount will be. The more they spend, the more they save.

4) Group Discounts

The psychology behind bulk purchases means that people are almost always willing to make a bigger purchase if the price is right.

Group discounts work because of an interesting quirk in human psychology. When we believe other people will benefit from our actions, we’re more likely to take action ourselves. When someone sees that a group discount exists, they might be more interested in making a purchase because they know that their friends will also save money on the same item(s).

Highlight savings with your pricing strategy. Shoppers want to feel like they’re getting a good deal. When you can highlight the fact that you’re providing your buyers with a discount or a sale, it makes them feel good about the purchase and increases the likelihood of them buying again in the future.

Showcase large orders as something special. The bigger the order, the better it feels to make a purchase. By highlighting these large orders as special items and displaying them at an attractive price point, you increase the chances of customers making bulk purchases.

Conclusion

Successful bulk purchase strategies take into account logistics, shipping, packaging, and more, but they all have the same objective: to bulk up your sales volume without increasing markdown percentages or total sales expenses. We’ve taken a look at four techniques for increasing bulk purchases from your Shopify store.

It can be a challenge, but with some careful planning and execution, there are a number of ways for Shopify store owners to increase bulk purchases in their stores. They’re relatively simple, low-cost techniques that can be utilized with great success by many different store owners.

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