For many Shopify brands, growth usually means one thing: spend more on ads and bring more visitors to the store. But what if the store already has traffic?
That was the situation for one India-based FMCG Shopify brand. Customers were discovering the products and placing orders, but many purchases contained only one product. Instead of increasing the advertising budget, the brand focused on getting more value from customers who were already ready to buy.
The strategy was simple: improve product discovery inside the shopping journey.
By introducing product combinations, relevant recommendations, and cart rewards, the brand encouraged customers to build higher-value orders. Monthly revenue grew from approximately $23,330 to $46,660 within one month, while the focus remained on improving the existing customer journey rather than increasing ad spend.
Here is what changed and what other Shopify stores can learn from this Shopify AOV case study.
Why Was the Shopify Brand Struggling to Increase AOV?
The main problem was not a lack of products or traffic.
Customers were frequently reaching the store, choosing one product, adding it to their cart, and completing the purchase.
That sounds positive, but it created a missed revenue opportunity.
The store had several products that could naturally be purchased together, particularly products that could form complete breakfast combinations. However, customers were not always discovering these combinations during their shopping journey.
The buying experience was effectively saying: Choose a product → Add to cart → Checkout.
There was little encouragement to explore what could go with the first product.
This is a common problem for FMCG brands because customers often arrive with one specific product in mind.
Can You Increase AOV Without Increasing Ad Spend?
Yes. Increasing AOV does not necessarily require more website visitors.
Consider two situations. A store receives 1,000 orders with an average value of $333. That produces $333,000 in revenue. If the same 1,000 customers begin spending an average of $400, the store generates $400,000 without needing additional orders.
This is why increasing AOV without ads can be an important growth strategy.
Instead of spending more money to acquire another customer, the business improves what happens after an existing customer develops buying intent.
The focus shifts from “How do we get more people into the store?” to “How do we help existing shoppers discover more relevant products?”
What Was Wrong with the Existing Cart Experience?
The original shopping journey mainly supported checkout.
Customers could select their product, review the cart, and complete their purchase. However, the cart was not actively helping them discover other relevant items.
That meant several opportunities were being missed:
- Complementary products were not obvious.
- Customers had to search manually for other items.
- Complete product combinations were difficult to discover.
- There was little motivation to increase cart value.
- The cart did not communicate how close shoppers were to receiving additional value.
The objective of the new average order value strategy was therefore not to make checkout harder. It was to make product discovery easier before checkout.
How Did Product Bundles Help Increase Order Value?
The first major change was introducing product combinations.
Instead of expecting customers to browse through different pages and decide which products worked together, the brand began presenting complete breakfast combinations.
Customers could understand which products could be purchased together and build a more complete order.
For an FMCG brand, this can work particularly well because products often have natural relationships. For example:
- Breakfast mix with nut butter
- Cereal with a complementary topping
- Snack with a beverage
- Main product with an additional flavour
- Everyday product with a value multipack
Bundles reduce the amount of thinking required from the customer.
Shopify’s 2026 guidance on product bundling similarly notes that complementary bundles can increase basket size and AOV by helping shoppers understand which products naturally belong together.
The important part is that the products must make sense together. A random bundle may increase the number of products displayed, but it does not necessarily increase the customer’s desire to buy.
How Did Frequently Bought Together Recommendations Improve the Cart?
The next change was adding Frequently Bought Together recommendations.
If a customer selected one product, they could see another product that naturally complemented it.
This removed an important problem: customers no longer needed to search the entire store to find the next relevant item.
For example, instead of simply showing Your cart contains Product A, the shopping experience could suggest Customers buying Product A may also find Product B useful.
This is a form of cross-selling.
Frequently Bought Together works particularly well when recommendations are based on real product relationships rather than simply showing popular products.
Shopify’s current market basket analysis guidance recommends using purchasing patterns to identify products customers commonly buy together and then using those relationships to improve merchandising, recommendations, and promotions.
The lesson is simple: do not recommend more products, recommend the right products.
How Did a Rewards Progress Bar Encourage Customers to Spend More?
The third part of the cart optimization case study involved using a rewards progress bar.
A progress bar gives the customer a visible target.
Instead of simply displaying the cart subtotal, it can communicate something such as:
- You are $133 away from free shipping.
- Add $200 more to unlock your next reward.
This creates a clear reason to continue shopping. Without a visible target, customers may not know that spending slightly more could unlock an additional benefit.
The target should always feel realistic. If the customer’s typical order is around $467, setting the next reward at $1,333 may not encourage action. A smaller gap is easier for customers to understand and achieve.
The progress bar therefore worked together with product recommendations. The customer could see how much more they needed to spend and also discover relevant products that could help them reach the target.
Why Did the Combination Work Better Than a Single Upsell?
The improvement did not come from relying on one popup or one discount. The customer journey addressed three different questions.
What else should I buy? Frequently Bought Together provided the answer.
Which products work well as a complete purchase? Product combinations helped answer that.
Why should I add something else now? The rewards progress bar provided an incentive.
Together, these elements created a more complete AOV optimization system.
This is important because simply installing a cart upsell Shopify feature does not automatically increase order value. The offer still needs:
- Relevant products
- Clear value
- Good timing
- Easy product selection
- A simple cart experience
What Was the Result of the Cart Optimization Strategy?
After improving the product and cart experience, the brand’s monthly revenue increased from approximately $23,330 to $46,660 within one month.
| What changed | Before BRIX | After BRIX |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly revenue | ≈ $23,330 | ≈ $46,660 |
| Typical order | Mostly single product | Combinations and complementary add-ons |
| Role of the cart | Checkout only | Product discovery and reward progress |
| Advertising budget | Baseline | No increase |
The focus of the implementation was not increasing advertising spend. It was helping existing shoppers discover additional products and higher-value combinations.
The changes included:
- Product combinations for complete breakfast purchases
- Frequently Bought Together recommendations
- A rewards progress bar
- Better product discovery before checkout
This helped move the store away from a shopping journey dominated by single-product purchases.
It is important not to attribute the entire revenue increase to one feature. Store revenue can also be affected by traffic, conversion rate, returning customers, promotions, seasonality, and other business activity.
The important takeaway from this Shopify AOV case study is that improving the value of existing customer sessions can become a meaningful growth lever without automatically increasing customer acquisition costs.
What Can Other Shopify FMCG Brands Learn From This Case Study?
The first lesson is to look beyond traffic. If customers are already visiting and purchasing, review what they are buying together. Ask:
- How many orders contain only one product?
- Which products naturally complement the bestseller?
- Which items are already frequently purchased together?
- Could three products become a useful bundle?
- Is there a clear free-shipping or reward target?
- Are relevant products visible inside the cart?
- Can customers add an additional product without leaving the cart?
Then start small. Choose one bestseller. Find one or two products that naturally go with it. Create a combination or Frequently Bought Together recommendation. Add a realistic reward threshold. Measure the results. Track:
- Average order value
- Items per order
- Upsell acceptance rate
- Bundle purchases
- Revenue per visitor
- Conversion rate
- Additional cart revenue
- Profit per order
The goal is not simply to make every customer spend more. It is to make the shopping experience better at helping customers discover products that are genuinely relevant to their purchase.
How Can Shopify Brands Start Optimizing Their Cart for AOV?
If your Shopify store receives traffic but still depends heavily on single-product orders, the next growth opportunity may already be inside your cart.
Start by improving product combinations, cross-sells, reward targets, and the way customers discover related products before checkout. If you are not sure where the gap is, our guide to the [10 hidden reasons Shopify brands struggle to increase AOV](/blog/reasons-shopify-brands-struggle-aov) is a good place to start.
BRIX was used in this FMCG cart optimization strategy to bring these experiences together through Combo Builder, Frequently Bought Together, Rewards Progress Bar, and smart cart optimization tools.
Rather than adding more ad spend to solve every growth problem, BRIX helps Shopify merchants focus on getting more value from customers who are already ready to buy.
More traffic can create more opportunities. A smarter cart can help you make better use of the opportunities you already have.
FAQs
1. What exactly changed on the store?
Three things: product combinations built with the Combo Builder, Frequently Bought Together recommendations, and a rewards progress bar inside the cart. No changes were made to the advertising campaigns.
2. Did the brand spend more on ads?
No. The advertising budget stayed where it was. The revenue increase came from helping shoppers who were already on the store discover more relevant products before checkout.
3. Is the whole revenue increase down to BRIX?
It should not be read that way. Store revenue is also affected by traffic, conversion rate, returning customers, promotions, and seasonality. What the cart changes did was raise the value of sessions the store was already paying for.
4. Why does this work so well for FMCG brands?
FMCG shoppers usually arrive with one specific product in mind, and the products themselves have strong natural relationships. That makes combinations and Frequently Bought Together recommendations easy for customers to understand and accept.
5. What is a realistic reward threshold to start with?
Set it slightly above your current average order value, not far above it. If a typical order is around $467, a target set just a little above it will get acted on. A target at $1,333 usually gets ignored.