Bundling strategies: What is it, and what is it for?

What bundle is needed for? What is the best way to use it? Just for up-sell? Not only? We would like to share the best cases of how it is possible to do this.
There are lots of ways to pair products into bundles. We have been watching how our customers choose the products for bundle sets for more than a year. We have collected the best-known practices to inspire new users to create their own unique bundles.

"Try-me" bundles. Promotions: product launch or marketing campaigns
Weaker performing products boosters or Inventory reduction strategy
Business as usual or Buy-more-pay-less bundles. Upselling strategy
Seasonal and gift bundles
Reduced Shipping and Special Handling Costs bundle strategy
Сustomers Suggestions Strategy
Mystery Box Bundle strategy
Other Bundle techniques

What is product bundling?

Product bundling is a technique in which several products are grouped together and sold as a single unit for one price. 
Product bundling is used by manufacturers from all kinds of industries. But a problem that unites them all is how to create and manage bundles to increase average order value and encourage customers to buy more products.

We’ve analyzed all the interviews we had with our clients to create this guide for you, and we really hope it will help you increase your AOV and sales in general.

We would like to highlight the most popular strategies used by MBC Bundles customers:

"Try-me" bundles. Promotions: product launch or marketing campaigns

Newly-launched products are grouped together with existing or popular products as a promotion to help customers discover your latest ones. To increase the hype around the release of a new product, brands will create special launch bundles that are only available for a limited time - or limited in number.

This strategy is used by e-Commerce stores, which mix new products with their well-known merchandise to gain some exposure for the new product. The more well-received the existing product is in the market, the more it brings the customer closer to the new product.

WIT Fitness:

We do a lot of footwear launches. So, we launch a new shoe that's never been on the market before. And with that shoe, we will bundle a pair of socks or a T-shirt. Or if you buy the shoes, you get 10% off a pair of socks or a T-shirt, or whatever it might be. So that's a fantastic way to activate a brand further because obviously, people have come online for the shoe. And now we're trying to rope them in for a shoe and a T-shirt or socks. 
Using this strategy does a variety of things like increasing our AOV and units per transaction, and so on, which is really useful. 

CTRL:

We use bundles for a product launch. We launched a new sample and a pack of a new flavor in a small size. And instead of just launching it by selling them individually, we sold a pack of three, a pack of ten, and a pack of three with another product. So that was really useful. That actually did really well for us, so I was very happy with that. 

Aware Nutrition:

It is a good thing if you have a bundle with a new product and, also, the bestseller that the customer will buy. For example, we take those products that are our best-selling together and then maybe add also different supplements with the same function, and supplements that could be good together. This helps our customers to familiarize themselves with the new products, try something new and save money while increasing our AOV and sales.

How to create a Try-me Bundle:
Step 1. Analyze what is your best-selling to trigger the sales of the new one._ For your convenience, we have added a list of best- sellers and a least sellers. This list is based on analytics of your orders and is regularly updated _
Step 2. Choose a type of bundle and a new product and one or several popular products.

Pay attention to such types of bundles as 'Standard', 'MixMatch or 'BOGO' ('Buy One Get One', 'Buy X items Get one' or 'Buy X products Get Y' discount) types

Step 3. Decide what discount you’d like to give your customers (percentage, sale price, fixed discount, or free product), and specify the details.
Step 4. Create a bundle and enjoy the results.

Weaker performing products boosters or Inventory reduction strategy

Every e-Commerce store has some products that don’t sell as well as the others. 

Dead stock prevents businesses from investing money into producing new products, which makes a company stagnate. Using an inventory reduction bundling strategy, you can clear your inventory space, sell excess and old items, increase your revenue as well as save on carrying costs and increase product awareness for your underselling items. 
Weaker performing product boosters or Inventory reduction strategies include discounts on your bundles so shoppers who are interested in a top-selling item will see the whole bundle as a bargain and will be more inclined to buy it.
Combine popular products with non-moving or old product stock to shift it quickly away from the business. This method helps to recoup costs, even with older products selling at a lower price.

WIT Fitness:

We have some products that have a high click-through rate but a low conversion. We have tested one assumption that we made that a product might not have enough value back to the customer. So we might need to add something to that product to get the customer over the line and actually make a purchase. 
So in that sense, we have taken a product with high click-through, or high impressions and low conversion rate, and bundled it with a low-value item, which is a top seller. For example, socks, footwear, thumb tape, underwear, stuff like that, and discounting that product might just represent value enough to get the customer. I have found that that has helped. 
So I guess we could say the bundles obviously add more value to a slow-moving product.  

Magnum Supplement:

If we know a product isn't selling too well, we might partner it with a good selling product and kind of make that a bundle. So we move and maybe introduce new people to this product that isn't popular.   

Tuned in Tokyo:

Some of the designs were really popular on hoodies. Some of them weren't, so we turned them into t-shirts. Bundle the excellent sellers with the not-so-great sellers and sell all those designs for less profit, but at least everything is being purchased.

Subie Supply:

Bundling is one of the best strategies for inventory reduction and fixing the problem of excess and slow-moving stock. Try to find products that complement each other well or products similar to each other. Or mix products with slow and fast-moving products with an attractive bonus for your customers.
The main reason to use the MBC Bundles app is inventory tracking because we have a lot of bundles and stuff that we stock here. Basically, before using the app, I had to go in and manually remove inventory from each individual product. But with the MBC bundle app, I don't have to do that, as it adds everything together, which is mandatory for me. So it makes it a lot easier.




How to create a Product Booster Bundle:

Step 1. Choose a bundle type

Pay attention to such types of bundles as 'BOGO', 'Quantity Breaks', 'Mix&Match: Collection Type' or 'Mini Builder'), and a slow-moving or old stock product and bestseller(s) that your customers love.

Step 2. Choose the discount type (percentage, or free product). 
Step 3. Create a bundle and enjoy the results.

Business as usual or Buy-more-pay-less bundles. Upselling strategy

Some products have a high demand in every store. If you know your bestsellers, you can easily increase your average order value by creating a bundle with multiples of that product in one kit. This way, your customer gets a better value while also ‎effortlessly meeting their demand for your product. 
This strategy helps you increase the perceived value of the bundled products and boosts the average revenue per user.  

WIT Fitness:

We have our own product offering, and it's a great way to activate the brand and get more products out there. So an example would be, at the moment we run three T-shirts or three ladies' tanks for £65. This is a great way to increase units per transaction and actually get people buying more of the brand and actually wearing the brand, activating it for us outside of the storefront.

RED HOT 100:

Brands use bundled sets to sell complementary products they want people to buy, using the leverage of the most popular products. Ideally, individual products could be bundled either as upsells or cross-sells. The goal of the upselling strategy is to encourage customers to upgrade their purchases. Our bundle sale strategy depends on whether we're doing promotion or not. The bundles that we always have on the website are combinations of our most popular products. We just create them as bundles, and then, depending on the campaign or promotion that we have currently in that season, we will create a bundle or not to try and push those products out.  

Incylence. Сolor-based sub-strategy:

Once per month, we check which bundles are performing well. That's great feedback for us. We also tested a bit like 'two bundles work better if you put three socks of the same color' or is it like a bestseller but different colors'. But we concluded that they perform better when you have the same colorway. So people are running in blue shoes. They want three different pairs of blue socks, not blue, yellow, and red. Those are learnings we got from analyzing the sales via the MBC Bundle builder application. That is super helpful. 
In the future, we will bring out more products, not just socks but also other socks, and we will also launch again headbands that performed well at the beginning of 2021. When launching the headbands, we want to add more bundles, like a sock+headband bundle. So I think there's a lot more potential.




How to create a Buy-more-pay-less Bundle:

Step 1. Choose a bundle type

Pay attention to such types of bundles as 'Quantity Breaks', 'Mini Builder', 'Product PACK's'

Step 2: Choose a high-demand product in your store. 
Step 3. Choose a kit size and type of discount (percentage, sale price, fixed discount, or free product). 
Step 4. Create a bundle and increase your average revenue per user.

Seasonal and gift bundles

Bundles get special attention around the holidays, festivities, and sales promotion days like during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) sales.
Customers can save money on those seasonal bundles at any time of the year, too, not only on special dates. Specifically, you can offer year-round bundles as specially curated, discounted bundles with a deadline featuring a count-down.

Also, a lot of retailers have the option to create discounted gift bundles - along with wrapping services - during holiday periods. This approach encourages customers to add more items to their purchases and allows companies to boost their revenue during holidays and special occasions.

Magnum Supplement:

We can use Christmas or a New Year's type of resolution bundle or Valentine's Day bundle, like whatever the time of year it is, we can kind of look at that. But again, the main ways are based on goals and then based on sales and what products we need to focus on more.  

RED HOT 100:

We have noticed that users very much prefer buying things in a bundle when they get a discount. Your app has been extremely useful and beneficial for us to generate sales. Especially regarding periods of high promotions, like Black Friday, or Christmas, and things like that. It was mainly just to push sales. 
We identify the most commonly bought products we just created and present them as a bundle to them to make it easier. We noticed that they would buy it together. It's a great way to promote and motivate customers to buy more products.
We found that having the bundles on a separate page and having them go to that page actually generates more than when we are showing them the pop-up of the upsell.




How to create a Seasonal or Gift  Bundle:

Step 1. Choose a bundle type. Here, actually, any type of bundle can work perfectly.

Pay attention to the bundles which have its own product page

Step 2. Choose products for seasonal bundles or create gift sets for gift bundles.
Step 3: Decide the type of discount (percentage, sale price, fixed discount or free product).
Step 4 (optional). Set up expiration date to create a sense of urgency. To easily plan your sales, we have also added a Start Date feature that allows you to schedule the start of bundle sales
Step 5. Create a bundle and increase your average revenue per user.

Reduced Shipping and Special Handling Costs bundle strategy

Rather than purchasing individual items, shoppers buy products together as a bundle. 
Bundling items together with discounted prices leads to lower overall shipping costs as you’re sending items in bulk.
This means items are sent in the same packaging - consequently lowering your shipping costs.

Foil Me:

You can reduce shipping costs through bundling but including all the items in a single package. Rather than purchasing individual items, shoppers buy products together as a bundle. This means items are sent in bulk and in the same packaging. That will lower both your shipping and fulfillment costs.

Bridgewater Candles:

Since installing the app, we have seen increased average order value for all brands, which as you know, is a key metric, particularly in the shipping environment: the ability to get average order value up – always saves money in the long run because of shipping. So we have seen average order value going up in all brands across our four sites. We have earned almost $50,000 within the last two months using the MBC Bundles App.
The biggest success for us is that we have a department in our manufacturing facility, we call them special handling, and they used to be in charge of pre-making fixed bundles that we used to put on our site when we have not been using a bundling app yet. That increased labor costs, the amount of time used in our facility, that increased even the amount of space needed in a facility. We used to have racks full of these pre-made bundles. And now all we have to do is just have our single item SKUs on the line, and we can pull from those. It’s just magic!

How to create a Reduced Shipping and Special Handling Costs Bundle:

Step 1. Decide what bundle type would better work for you. But note, the more products included - usually, the more you save on delivery costs.

Use such bundles as 'Standard Bundle', 'Mix&Match', 'Mix&Match: Optional Products', 'PACK's', 'Mini Builder' or 'Quantity Breaks'.

Step 2. Choose products for the bundle.
Step 3. Choose a type of discount (percentage, sale price, fixed discount or free product).
Step 4. Create a bundle and increase your average revenue per user.

Customers Suggestions Strategy

E-Commerce Upselling, using your customer recommendations is a brilliant way to sell your product bundles.
Bundles succeed more often when included items are usually purchased together.
Look at your analytics and find out which are your best-selling products. Bundle them together and improve your customer shopping experience.

Shen Yun Shop:

We have already had the list of related products that should be selling together. And also we get feedback from our customers. We create bundles actually from them. So like that, we have a scarf and scarf set, and basically, for example, a scarf with the scarf ring, or we have a Charm with the charm rings set. So those are bundles that the customers manually created.




How to create a Customer suggested Bundle:

Step 1. Analyze what products your customers most often buy together. You can see detailed information in the updated in-app analytics dashboard, where you can see information about your best sellers
Choose a bundle type and combine those products into bundles.

All of 'Standard Bundle' and 'Mix&Match' bundle patterns probably are the best options.

Step 2. Choose the type of discount (percentage, sale price, fixed discount or free product).
Step 3. Create a bundle and provide your customers with the best shopping experience.

Mystery Box Bundle strategy

A mystery box is a box that contains special random products. Buyers are willing to pay a fixed price without knowing the exact content until they open the box. 
For example, you choose the range of products that a Mystery box may include specific product types, and your clients know what products they will get, but the design would be a surprise for them. Or your clients will get 5 out of 10 products described in the Mystery box.
You can also think of mystery boxes as an upgraded version of surprise chocolate eggs, a fun treat you’ve likely had in your childhood. Typically, these chocolate eggs contain a toy or another surprise in a plastic capsule. Before you crack it open, you have no idea what you will be getting. 
Usually, Mystery Boxes are limited in time or quantity.

Tuned in Tokyo:

Our in-house Mystery Boxes are one of our top-selling items, but they are on the higher end price of our website. We offer a clothing bundle of 3 tees, 1 long sleeve, 1 hoodie, a backpack, lanyard, keychain, and stickers for $120. Because this was so popular we added a box for $100 that left out the backpack as a slightly cheaper option and an option for people who had already purchased the mystery box but didn't need a second backpack.

When we added the MBC Bundle Products app we also launched a few POD bundle boxes. These boxes have predetermined designs in them, but they are still a great deal for 4 tees at $60. We took our most popular hoodie designs and placed them on the tees in the boxes making them exclusive. If a customer wants one of those designs in a front-only printed tee, they will need to order the bundle.

We combine products into our in-house mystery boxes that haven't been selling well and some of our best-selling designs that we have an overstock of. It is a way to clear out the inventory and increase AOV. We did the same thing with the bundles from MBC. We took the best-selling designs from hoodies and some long sleeves and only made them available in these bundles. The hope is that we increase AOV with these bundles as well. They are not a true mystery box, but a bundle deal with exclusive prints.


We'd recommend you to create 'Mystery Box' Bundle

Step 1. Choose 'Mystery Box' bundle. Add the products. You can use the 'Mix&Match' function and make products interchangeable. In this case products will be chosen randomly from the product list you predefined.
Step 2. Choose the discount type (percentage, sale price, fixed discount or Shopify's discount)
Step 3. Create bundle and use the effect of surprise and intrigue to attract your customers.


In conclusion, bundling adds value to your products by adding extra features or products to your existing purchase. You can tailor your product offerings according to your customer's preferences to align with their wants. Offering unique and well-curated packages can help you stand out from your competitors. It clears out your aging inventory, increases your items’ perceived value in the eyes of your customers, and boosts sales.

Other Bundle techniques:

Pure bundling

It implies a mix of products that can be bought only within a bundle, and no item is sold separately. As a result, this limits how flexible the bundle is for the customer.
This type of bundling is often used by monopolies that aim to limit their clients’ choices. For example, cable TV providers offer packages with channels that cannot be sold individually.
However, for limited edition or rare products in a bundle, customers may want to snap these up out of fear of missing them out. For example, a limited edition goodie bag as part of a fashion show’s ticket price.




How to create a Pure Bundle:
Step 1. Choose a bundle type (any type can be used, but preferably Standard and Mix&Match patterns, PACK's and Quantity Breaks patterns), and select the products which will be available exclusively in this bundle. 
Step 2. Choose the discount type (percentage, sale price, fixed dicount, or free product). 
Step 3. Create a bundle and enjoy the results.

Mixed bundling

Mixed bundles enable customers to buy specific products as a bundle or as individual items. This bundling technique enables marketers to choose several products available for packaging so that clients can choose the necessary items and create a custom bundle. This makes them feel as if they have full control of the transaction. For these packages, companies often use perishables, for example, toiletries, six-packs of fresh juice or beer, and an option to choose a T-shirt when buying a pair of jeans at $X. A customer can buy a single burger from a fast-food restaurant or buy it as part of a bundle value meal.

How to create a Mixed Bundle: 
Step 1. Choose a bundle type (you can use any type, but we recommend you to use all Mix&Match patterns including patterns with Optional products, Mini Builder, or PACK's ), and select the products for the bundle.
Step 2. Choose the discount type (percentage, sale price, fixed discount, or free product). 
Step 3. Create a bundle and make your customers happy.

Mix&Match bundling

This bundling technique enables marketers to choose several products available for packaging so that clients can choose the necessary items and create a custom bundle. This makes them feel as if they have full control of the transaction. For these packages, companies often use perishables.

How to create a Mix&Match Bundle: 
Step 1. Choose a bundle type, (Mix&Match, Mix&Match: Optional Products, Collection Type) and select the products for the bundle.
Step 2. Choose the discount type (percentage, sale price, fixed discount). 
Step 3. Create a bundle and increase your store's revenue.

Cross-sell bundling

In this bundling technique, retailers sell complementary products as add-ons to the main product. It means this complementary product often can’t be used separately. This type of bundling works well with lower-priced items, accessories, or parts that go with a more expensive item. 
For example, customers are always offered to buy a case or earphones together with a phone.

How to create a Cross-sell Bundle: 
Step 1. Choose a bundle type (Standard or Mix&Match with Optional products or BOGO would be a perfect match), and select the products for the bundle.
Step 2. Choose the discount type (usually a free product, percentage, or sale price).
Step 3. Create a bundle and increase your AOV.

BOGO or half-price bundling

“Buy one get one free” is a killer bundling type widely used by e-commerce businesses. 
This bundling is used when you buy one main item that you can avail yourself a discount for another complimentary product or get another product free. This is the best-used technique for one-time purchase products.
The initial product is either expensive or a one-time use item, such as a fridge, a hairdryer, or an electric razor. Thus, clients are informed that buying this item or spending the N-sum of money will let them choose a gift or receive a high discount.

How to create a BOGO or half-price Bundle: 
Step 1. Choose a bundle type (BOGO, Buy X items Get One or Bux X items Get one Free or Discount as it has its own product page), and select the products for the bundle: one main and more expensive one and a complimentary one.
Step 2. Choose the discount type (usually a free product or percentage).
Step 3. Create a bundle and provide your customers with the best shopping experience.

Variety pack bundling

Variety product bundles are also a great option if a customer is ordering for different people within the same household (who like different flavors of the same product). 
This type of bundle pleases all of the parties involved.

How to create a Variety pack Bundle: 
Step 1. Choose a bundle type (better to choose Standard and Mix&Match patterns, PACK's and Quantity Breaks for Multiple Products patterns, or Mini Builder), and select the products for the bundle.
Step 2. Choose the discount type (usually percentage or sale price).
Step 3. Create a bundle and provide you enjoy your revenue growth.

Subscription bundling

Using a subscription bundle, you can create a bundle with your in-demand and best-selling products and allow customers to subscribe to them. Your customers can choose the subscription frequency  – weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, etc. This lets them get their favorite products delivered right when they need them – without placing an order.
This offers a lot of value to subscribers, keeps them engaged in more than one product, and helps fight subscription fatigue. 
It benefits both the buyer and seller on an ongoing basis. You do not just sell more, but also, subscription bundles build trust and boost customer loyalty. Store owners also benefit through lower operating and shipping costs on top of the promise of consistent revenue.

MBC Bundle Products has integration with subscription apps. You just need to enable the 'Enable integration with subscription apps' function for your bundle. This can be done in the Individual widget settings when create/edit bundle.

Updated on: 09/11/2023