3 Ways to Promote Products Online with Carro

“You want fries with that?” If you’ve ever heard this, you’ve experienced a cross-sell. Cross-selling means offering related or complementary products to what the customer already bought. For example, you might suggest a jacket and shoes to pair with a coat, or a sleeping bag and socks to go with a tent.

There are many tactics for cross-selling. For instance, you could display related products on a product page (like Amazon’s “frequently bought together” section) or show product bundles at checkout. The key is to experiment and see which approach works best for your store.

With Carro, you can grow your online store, expand your catalog, and reach more customers—all while staying in control of the shopping experience. Carro lets you partner with thousands of brands and instantly offer complementary products. But once you have those products in your store, how do you promote them? In this article, we’ll cover three proven ways to promote and cross-sell: email, Instagram, and paid social ads.

Succeeding with an online business requires sustainable growth. That means:

• Increasing average order value (AOV)

• Increasing total number of customers

• Increasing purchase frequency

Carro helps you achieve all three. In just a few clicks, you can expand your catalog with products from thousands of partner brands—no inventory or extra costs required. That’s pure margin. Try Carro free for 60 days.

Email is still one of the most effective cross-selling tools in eCommerce. Once a customer makes a purchase, your relationship doesn’t have to stop there. Post-purchase emails keep customers engaged, informed, and excited about your store.

It’s also more cost-effective to retain customers than to acquire new ones. With email, you can instantly reach thousands of people—often with a higher chance of engagement than paid ads. Post-purchase emails, in particular, are a great place to recommend complementary products.

To maximize results:

• Collect as many emails as possible. Use pop-ups to invite sign-ups, offering 15% off or free shipping in exchange.

• Maintain steady communication. Share product launches, sales, or giveaways.

• Highlight Carro-powered products. Carro lets you expand your catalog with unique items, which you can bundle and promote via email.

Types of emails to consider:

• Abandoned cart emails for customers who added items but didn’t buy

• Browse abandonment emails for those who viewed products but didn’t add them to cart

• Cross-promotions with Carro partners by sharing each other’s email audiences

Email marketing isn’t just about sales—it’s about building loyalty, nurturing interest, and driving repeat business.

Over 200 million people visit at least one business profile on Instagram every day. The most successful brands create content that resonates with their audience. To discover what works best, experiment with vibrant photos, engaging short-form videos, and creative captions.

Tips for Instagram success:

• Write descriptive, clever captions with clear calls to action.

• Use hashtags to expand reach and help non-followers discover your posts.

• Add link stickers or product tags to drive traffic to your store.

Instagram is also about experiences. User-generated content, like customer photos, works as both a testimonial and an ad. Stories are especially powerful—they bypass the algorithm and appear at the top of feeds, giving you front-and-center visibility without overwhelming your audience.

Cross-promotion is another winning strategy. By partnering with complementary brands that share your target audience, you gain access to entirely new customer segments. Carro makes this easy by giving you access to the largest curated network of Shopify brands.

Other Instagram strategies with Carro products:

• Create shoppable posts or ads featuring both your products and those added from the Carro network.

• Announce new partnerships or products in your store with dedicated posts.

• Host live streams to showcase how you use Carro-powered products in daily life.

Effective advertising means buying ad space where your customers spend time. For many brands, that’s social media. Paid ads can quickly become profitable when used strategically.

One of the best approaches is retargeting. Build audiences from past buyers or site visitors and remind them why they loved your store. If a customer bought from you before, show them complementary products from your expanded Carro catalog.

Paid ads also give you access to Carro’s extended network of audiences, lowering your cost per acquisition (CPA) and improving ROI. Even if someone doesn’t purchase immediately, a paid ad can spark interest—resulting in likes, follows, and eventual conversions.

Tactics to try with paid social ads:

• Design creative graphics featuring you and your partner’s products, linking to collection pages.

• Boost organic posts to reach more of your followers.

• Retarget visitors who viewed products but didn’t add them to their cart.

• Retarget visitors who abandoned their cart without checking out.

When planning your promotions, think of your customers in three groups:

1. Past customers – people who already bought from you

2. Active shoppers – people currently searching for what you offer

3. Potential customers – people who would buy if they knew about you

• Email marketing helps you maintain connections with past customers.

• Organic content (social posts, videos, blogs) attracts active shoppers.

• Paid ads reach the largest group—potential customers who haven’t discovered you yet.

Now that you know how to promote your store and products online, Carro makes it easy to expand your catalog, build brand partnerships, and reach new audiences.