Meaning & use
cross-merchandising
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablebusiness
The practice of displaying or promoting related products together to encourage customers to buy more.
Grammar: Uncountable; it has no plural and takes a singular verb: cross-merchandising works well.
Patterns
- use cross-merchandising
- cross-merchandising of something with something
The store increased sales through cross-merchandising, placing salsa next to the tortilla chips.
Good cross-merchandising can help customers discover products they did not plan to buy.
Common combinations
- cross-merchandising strategy
- Their cross-merchandising strategy pairs coffee mugs with bags of coffee.
- effective cross-merchandising
- Effective cross-merchandising made the small shop feel larger.
- use cross-merchandising
- We plan to use cross-merchandising in the seasonal aisle.
- cross-merchandising display
- The cross-merchandising display put batteries beside the toys.
Synonyms and how they differ
- product placement
- This usually means putting a product inside a film or show; cross-merchandising is about placing products together in a store.
- bundling
- Bundling means selling items together as one package; cross-merchandising just displays them near each other.
Word family
- merchandising noun
- The activity of promoting and selling goods, especially in retail.
- merchandise noun
- Goods that are bought and sold.
Commonly confused: cross-merchandising or merchandising?
cross-merchandising vs merchandising
Merchandising is the general activity of promoting goods; cross-merchandising specifically means displaying related products together.
Practice
Which sentence uses cross-merchandising correctly?
Choose one answer.
Cross-merchandising is an uncountable noun, so it takes a singular verb and no article. Options An and B treat it as countable, and option D uses it as a verb, which is not standard.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cross-merchandising”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.