How to Create Dynamic Product Bundles

At Elastic Path, we aim to empower product merchandisers to create innovative, product experiences that drive conversion and revenue. Forrester research shows that 10-30% of commerce revenue comes from upselling and cross-selling via product bundles. Studies also show that brands can reduce their return rates by simply calling one of the items in a bundle a “free gift.” Now more than ever, it’s critical for brands to leverage the revenue-generating power of product bundles. That’s why we’ve launched dynamic bundles within EP Product Experience Manager (PXM).

What are Dynamic Product Bundles?

Dynamic product bundles gives shoppers the freedom to choose their own options in a bundle. Traditional bundles restrict and confine customers to a prepacked group of products. For example, a video game brand might sell a bundle with a game console, 2 controllers and 2 pre-selected games.

With dynamic bundles, shoppers are able to select 1 or more product options from a list of 10. That same video game brand could create a bundle where the shopper can select which of the games, if any, they want to choose. Or they could select 1 controller and both of the games. They would have the flexibility to choose their options.

In today’s market, customer satisfaction is critical and providing customers with flexibility within their bundles will inherently increase that. Additionally, dynamic bundles boost your revenue and AOV organically as customers add additional items to their cart. They’re also a great tactic to enhance inventory management. If you’re looking for ways to get rid of excess stock, for example at the end of a season, you can create bundles that will help encourage customers to purchase those items.

How to Create Dynamic Product Bundles with Elastic Path

EP Product Experience Manager (PXM)

Empower Your Merchandisers with Dynamic Product Bundling

Let’s say you are a beauty brand selling cosmetics including hair, skin, and nail care. Your merchandisers have some excess inventory they would like to sell off before next season.  To do this, they would like to create a dynamic bundle…

To create a dynamic bundle in Commerce Manager, our business user tooling, a merchandiser would follow four simple steps. 

STEP ONE: Create Your Bundle

Once in Commerce Manager, your merchant would head to EP PXM and click into the products tab to create a product and toggle on the bundle. 

STEP TWO: Configure Your Bundle

Then you are able to configure your bundle.  Here you can choose a minimum and/or maximum value for the number of products in a component that your shoppers can select. A component is equivalent to a category of products. For example, I want customers to select a minimum of 2 products from a list of 4. If you do not specify any minimum or maximum values for the product options in your components, shoppers can select any combination of product options. Also, choosing a minimum of 0 means that component product lists or that category of products are optional for your shoppers.

STEP THREE: Add A Price

Since we are looking to create a bundle promotion, we will add a SKU with the specific sale price for the bundle. The price will be auto calculated if no price is populated for the SKU. If a SKU is not on the bundle, the bundle price will be calculated by adding each product together. The bundled price for each option in the components will incentivize shoppers to purchase the entire bundle, getting rid of the inventory faster in this scenario.

STEP FOUR: Add An Image

Once you have set a price for the bundle, the last step before publishing is to add an image for what the bundle will look like on your frontend store. Go to the media management section of your “Create a New Bundle” tab. Then upload an image, click done and save and exit.

STEP FIVE: Publish Your Bundle.

Now that your bundle has been created, it’s time to publish it to your catalog so you can see it posted on your frontend store. Go back to your EP PXM section and select “Configurations.” Then select the product category or hierarchy you want the product to be featured in. For the beauty that will be featured in the “Women” category. Then choose the node or subcategories you want. For this example, that would be “beauty.” Then, you will add the product SKU into that node. Once the bundled SKU has been added you will go back to EP PXM and choose the Catalog tab. Choose the catalog in which these products belong. For the beauty brand example it would be the retail catalog. Once that is selected, you will click on the “Publish” button and the product catalog will be updated with this new bundle.

Utilizing dynamic bundles as part of your promotion strategy is a wonderful way to move excess product and revenue. This bundling format will allow you to meet customers’ needs in this highly competitive market. To learn more about Elastic Path’s product innovations that are simplifying the lives of merchandisers, you can check out our latest product blog.