Above image: Spain’s MARCA has created a dedicated site to sell sport and related events tickets.
The rise of the subscription economy has lead media groups to look at ecommerce strategies and explore upselling and cross-selling opportunities for their publications.
For those unfamiliar with the term, upselling is the art of selling an upgraded or luxury version of the same product you were about to sell. Imagine you were about to subscribe to the print version of The Economist and then you received an offer to get the digital subscription for a little more. Research shows you would almost certainly choose the upgraded version thus paying more and increasing readers revenue for the publication.
On the other hand, cross selling is when you are about to buy one product and you decide to buy another one on top of it that complements the original choice. A classic example is when you buy a burger and they ask if you would like to add fries and make it a menu.
These synergies can be quite clear in sport journalism. Subscribers to a sports publication have a clear tendency to upgrade to receive the supplements as seen in the image below from France’s Midi Olympique. This shared interest can also lead to greater upselling opportunities. This is the case of Spain’s MARCA, which has created a dedicated site to sell sport and related events tickets (see image at top of this post).
But sport publications are not alone in experimenting with new sources of reader revenue inspired by ecommerce practices. Regional and local newspapers are also leveraging their opportunities in this area. Their subscribers’ profile and location suggest a strong interest in local produce and events that could convert into sales with the right strategy.
Pedro Ruiz, Product Manager of Ecommerce DXP, a digital subscription solution platform from Protecmedia, shares his experience with us: “We have been surprised by rise in demand for this kind of solutions after the pandemic. It seems lockdowns have sped up a process that we had foreseen long ago. Just in the past two weeks we have set up a dedicated platform for Diario del Puerto in Spain and another one for La Vanguadia in México, and we are currently working in the implementation of Ecommerce DXP for Revue Banque in France.”
However, there are certain “must haves” that need to be in place for a successful ecommerce strategy. You must ensure your subscription platform or ecommerce system complies with the data protection legislation when using your subscriber data for cross selling or upselling purposes. You need a simple payment gateway, and if you are expecting visitors from abroad, you should ensure multicurrency purchases are allowed.