Products for the unit will change on a three-week cycle

Nisa is encouraging its members to increase their sales by upselling.

It has launched a new upselling unit specifically designed for £1 deals, new products or seasonal lines with margins of at least 20%.

The retail buying group said products for the unit would change on a three-week promotional cycle. It is also making an upselling coaching video available to its members so they can train staff on how to upsell and have till point conversations with customers.

Nisa retailers that had already adopted upselling in their stores had seen sales uplifts on promoted products of more than 500%, it claimed.

Upselling was a powerful tool to help influence shoppers’ purchasing decisions, said Laura Greene, insights executive at Him!

“Our research shows that 38% of shoppers would be likely or very likely to purchase a product on promotion if staff suggested it to them and 27% would if it was a new product,” she said.

“Staff upselling can help highlight a product or promotion that shoppers wouldn’t have otherwise seen and consequently result in a purchase.”

The move is the latest plank in Nisa’s strategy to transform itself into a consumer-focused business. Last month, it started trialling new store formats that chief operating officer Amanda Jones said not only looked at how the layout of a shop could be used to meet consumer missions, but also drove commercial benefit for retailers.

This week, Nisa revealed it had chalked up record volumes over Easter. Volumes were 7% higher than Nisa’s previous record week during last year’s July heatwave. On its busiest day in the week commencing 14 April, temperature controlled volumes were up 19% and ambient orders up 10%, with all deliveries completed without disruption or delay.