Willingness to buy

What is the challenge?

Companies want to increase their sales. To achieve this, they sell additional or higher-value products or services. The goal is to optimally serve the willingness to buy and to exploit the customers’ willingness to pay. 

What data can help?

  • Customer data (historical sales data of customers and customer groups, recorded (search) inquiries)
  • Customer master data to create customer groups and transfer insights from smaller units to larger ones
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Use case category: willingness to buy

How can companies use their data?

Data analytics and digital solutions can be used in the sales process to up-sell and cross-sell in a more targeted way. Up-selling offers customers higher-priced alternatives to the product or service they have already selected. During or after the purchase, cross-selling can be used to offer complementary products for additional purchase. This corresponds to the principle of a recommendation system which, in the case of search queries and purchases made, displays articles which could also be of interest to the customer. The up-selling and cross-selling suggestions are based on volumes of data that are aggregated into customer groups and buying patterns, and on which forecasts of future buying behavior can be made.

Where is this use of data already being applied?

The airline Lufthansa uses VR glasses to convince last-minute travelers to upgrade to a premium.

The online retailer Amazon uses the cross-selling functions “other customers also bought” and “is often bought together with”. This suggests data-based recommendations for other products to customers. Amazon attributes up to 35 percent of its sales to cross-selling.

The airline jetBlue uses the “Even More Space” up-selling program. This offers customers more legroom and earlier boarding at the time of booking. 

How does this use of data contribute to value creation?

The use of data to increase the willingness to buy can increase companies’ sales and strengthen value creation.

Aim of data use

Sources: Tourismuszukunft (2019), intomarkets Amazon Agentur (2017), Parker, M., Ivey Business School Foundation (2018), Forbes (2015)