Affiliate partnerships are utilised if shoppers do not go directly to a seller’s home page. Many companies which have their own websites also choose to place their products on other websites as well, with the hope that customers will still inevitably end up buying from them. Johnson (2004) alleged that shoppers were more likely to visit other sites thinking they could obtain further discounts. “Affiliates merely refer online shoppers to the Web sites of companies that stock and ship the products� (Johnson 2004, 6). Dysart (2002, 38) also found companies could even “start an affiliate program of their own, and pay other Web sites a commission to steer traffic their way�, or “They can join any number of the thousands of affiliate programs already established on the Web, and get paid for every Net cruiser they steer to the Web site of the affiliate program sponsor�. Dysart (2002, 38) noted that “Commissions typically range from 1%-15%�.
Gray (2004, 52) indicated “Affiliate marketing continues to grow� and “With the right set-up between affiliate and merchant, the relationship can be very profitable�. Alternate terms for affiliate partnerships are referral program and affinity program.
Amazon.com was one of the very first companies to use affiliates. The success they had with their affiliate partnerships helped make these joint ventures popular with many other businesses. Businesses can become an Amazon “associate� which provides links from their own site to Amazon.com, and vice-versa. This allows Amazon to sell a larger variety of goods that they cannot offer themselves. In addition, having affiliate programs which offer goods that compliment each other is also important. Johnson (2004, 6) found that Overstock.com, a supplier of discount clothing and household products “uses some 35,000 affiliates in addition to its own online site�. It was also indicated that a substantial amount of sales was the result of the associations with their affiliates (Johnson 2004). Another example of an affiliate partnership is Borders, a company that sells entertainment items such as movies and music which have teamed with Amazon.com. Tedeschi (2000, 16) observed �On Weather.com, for instance, visitors who read the fall foliage section are offered a chance to shop at the site's fall store, which includes merchandise like fall flowers from Proflowers.com and backpacks from eBags, among other things. Notably, users who buy goods stay on the site for the entire purchase�.
Companies interested in affiliate partnerships should ultimately endeavour to improve their websites for their customers’ own benefit, by allowing them to access different products with greater ease. Companies must consider that potential buyers are sometimes sceptical if a company has too many affiliate partners, and may associate a vast number of affiliates with the notion that the company is overly preoccupied with making profits (Greenhouse Grower 2002).
Related Links
More information on Amazon.com.
More information on affiliates in online auctioning.
Return to Online Retail
Julietsneddon 15:18, 25 Oct 2004 (EST)
