Credit Crunch Or Keeping Options Open?
I don’t need to say anything at all about the “credit crunch”. Merchants know full well that this time of year running up to XMas is a vital trading period and that being competitive when money supply is not in abundance is a challenge for every retailer.
Managing affiliate programs it is not uncommon to come across potential “competitor” brands signing up to a merchant program as an affiliate. Ulterior motive? Not necessarily.
Whilst it is not uncommon (albeit a little darker hat) for merchants to sign as affiliates in the same sector to keep an eye on the latest promotions, newsletters, products and prices emanating from an individual merchant, a significant number of merchants of all sizes are looking at ways of expanding their revenue and are becoming genuine affiliates in their own right.
From companies creating entire affiliate shopping sites to social network blogging and producing unique content to promote a rival product, merchants with their own programs are always on the look out for ways to improve their overall performance.
If you operate an affiliate program and a “brand” with their own program signs up as an affiliate then it isn’t surprising to have all sorts of thoughts running through your head as to why they signed up. I normally send a courtesy email and follow up with a phone call or two and this contact can be quite productive. A significant number of merchants actually do promote other merchants as affiliates and given their extensive customer lists, can be amongst the highest producing affiliates on a program.
For the merchant on the receiving end of such a relationship this can be very productive indeed and just like high performing affiliates can expect the occasional preferential treatment in respect of commission rates, so merchants who set up their own separate affiliate operations can also sometimes benefit.
Questions that obviously needs to be asked. Is this a good thing for affiliate marketing? To have merchants operating in the same area as traditional affiliates? I think it is good for a number of reasons.
First, the merchant fortunate enough to be promoted by the “brands” benefits economically through increased exposure and higher sales. Second, the “brand” is able to progress into a new commercial arena. Third, there are insufficient high producing affiliates in the market given the large number of companies with affiliate programs and just because the sales force isn’t there in sufficient numbers does not mean that recruitment of merchants to act as affiliates should not take place.
The jury however is still out on this. For with insufficient high producing affiliates, a squeeze on affiliate commissions, a lack of newer affiliates coming into the market and now merchants not only taking up the slack but also delivering consistent high performance on behalf of other merchants, where will this lead the Affiliate Industry over the next few years?
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