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Contributed by AFFLINK

As we make our way out of the pandemic, product and service bundling appears to be growing more common and important.

"Before the pandemic, customers often purchased a case of disinfectants or a case of ready-to-use antimicrobial sprays, not knowing if they worked together or not," said Michael Wilson, vice president of marketing for AFFLINK, which itself bundles products. "Now, due to the pandemic, 'trial and error' purchasing like this -- especially when it comes to infection control -- is over. Customers want a 'meal deal.' They want to select several products that complement each other and work together."

Bundling can be a cost-saving for customers and a lucrative marketing strategy for distributors and cleaning contractors. But to realize these benefits, Wilson says those who are interested must understand some key terms related to product bundling, such as:

Bundling

Bundling is a pricing strategy. It allows distributors and facility service providers to market several products or services at one price.  

Pure Bundling

Pure bundling is when two or more products are only sold together. 

"For instance, some cable service providers provide add-on channels only as part of a package; the channels cannot be selected individually," explains Wilson.

Joint Bundling

This is when two products are offered together at one bundled price. However, unliked pure bundling, they are usually designed to work together.

Leader Bundling

When popular selling products – known as "leaders" - are sold with less popular selling products. The less popular selling products are usually accessories of the leader product.

Mixed Leader Bundling

This is when a leader product is sold as a bundle but can be purchased on its own. There usually is a cost advantage, however, for purchasing it as part of a bundle.

"It's a bit surprising that bundling is not more common among jan/san distributors and facility cleaning providers," adds Wilson. "It is popular in other industries, and now due to COVID, likely will become much more widespread in the jan/san industry as well."