Product Bundling is the practice of selling multiple products together as a single package, usually at a combined price that's lower than purchasing each item separately. It's one of the most effective strategies for increasing Average Order Value in e-commerce.
Types of bundles:
- 1Pure bundles: Products are only available as a package (less common in e-commerce)
- 2Mixed bundles: Products available individually or as a discounted package
- 3Cross-category bundles: Products from different categories (e.g., shirt + pants + belt)
- 4Theme-based bundles: Curated around a use case ("Summer Essentials", "Home Office Starter Kit")
Data-driven bundling:
The most profitable bundles are built on real customer behavior, not assumptions. Market Basket Analysis reveals which products are actually purchased together, and at what rate. A bundle with 68% natural co-purchase rate is far more likely to succeed than one based on a merchandiser's intuition.
Bundle pricing strategy:
- Discount should be meaningful enough to motivate the bundle purchase (typically 10-20%)
- Anchor against individual prices so the savings are immediately visible
- Test different discount levels — sometimes a smaller discount performs equally well
Measuring bundle success:
Track bundle attachment rate, AOV lift, margin impact, and whether bundles cannibalize individual sales. The goal is incremental revenue, not just rearranging existing purchases.
