Affiliate Program Tips for Merchants

by Amy Harrin

For 2017 there are so many holidays to cater affiliate promotions to. I love this calendar from Fandom Marketing that comes out every year:

If you are in the retail space, particularly marketing products associated with gifting, then Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Graduation supply the first half of the year with affiliate revenue. Summer/Fall is a little slower, and so I like the idea of promoting some of these other occasions to my affiliates such as: National Girlfriends Day in August, National Grandparents Day in September, and Bosses Day in October. These fill the space just in time for the Holiday season..

According to Internet Retailer, of the $4.71 trillion in total U.S. retail sales last year, 26.5% occurred in the fourth quarter, according to an analysis of U.S. Commerce Department figures. When looking at e-commerce alone, 31.5% of the $343.0 billion transacted online last year occurred in the fourth quarter.

If you are not yet on board with affiliate marketing, now is the time. According to a Business Insider report published in September 2016,  15% of the digital media industry’s revenue now comes from affiliate marketing.

Here are some fun facts:

• Mainstream media publishers are helping legitimize affiliate marketing. In an effort to balance editorial integrity and revenue needs, publishers are taking a more native approach to affiliate marketing by embedding product links within organic content.
• Affiliate marketing now drives as many e-commerce orders in the US as email. Both channels currently account for 16% of US e-commerce orders, according to marketing firm Custora. This makes affiliate marketing one of the four largest sources of e-commerce orders, outperforming social commerce and display advertising.
• Even consumers who already have demonstrated purchase intent commonly visit multiple nonretail websites before completing a purchase on an e-commerce website or in a store. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of US shoppers say they visit two to three nonretail websites before completing a purchase, and 16% say they visit more than four websites, according to Rakuten and Forrester data.

US E-Commerce order by referral channel Source: Businessinsider.com