For someone who has been around in the digital business industry, you are bound to encounter the word “affiliate marketing”. While the primary motive or concept might still be unknown to you, incorporating this strategy can bring out the main potential of your business.
The current pandemic circumstances have turned customers to rely on online shopping. The acceptance of online shopping options has opened many opportunities for both business owners and publishers. The lockdown imposed on retail stores due to the pandemic has spurted the growth of online stores and has seen a sharp rise worldwide.
Affiliate e-commerce refers to an online marketing approach that helps a business owner target more audiences and accelerate their sales rate by encouraging influencers or content creators known as affiliates to bring audience. The affiliates are commissioned for their promotional tactics. In layman’s terms, affiliate e-commerce constitutes promoting a product for a company through social media platforms.
(https://www.brainvire.com/blog/importance-of-affiliate-marketing-in-shaping-ecommerce/)
The Importance of Affiliate eCommerce Today!
In the current business dynamics, online marketing is the new normal. And affiliate e-commerce is the brain that plays a crucial role in shaping the future of e-commerce. The relevance of affiliate e-commerce in today’s scenario is immaculate and brings many opportunities for businesses and content creators alike.
- Boosting sales without a team
Being a tenderfoot in the industry, investment in the right place is significant. And, spending most of the revenue on a team might not be reasonable. However, incorporating affiliate marketing in your business model allows you to have an indirect unit of experts who can boost your sales and add your links to niche-related websites.
- Improved SEO means better business
Off-page SEO tactics are often proven to be beneficial in bringing traffic to niche-related products or websites. Publishers of content creators can share the link to your products on other authentic websites to boost your Google rankings and keep you at the top of the search results.
Benefits of Affiliate eCommerce
- A fantastic opportunity for publishers and new content creators
Affiliate e-commerce is a gateway to the world of online retail. With some changes in the code, a product review page can become a great income opportunity. It is considered a great option since there is no requirement for any investment to form a page of recommendations for a niche product. For seasoned publishers, this can be a helpful extension. For new content creators, curating reviews and buying offers can help them set foot in this industry.
- Expanding your reader and revenue base
Apart from expanding your reader base, affiliate e-commerce offers an array of opportunities to increase the revenue base for publishers as well. Through an affiliate, marketing publishers can build trustworthy relationships with their customer base via supplying the products. According to Skimlinks VP Dunia Silan, the leading affiliates or publishers in the UK successfully generated 86 pounds in August 2020.
- Building trust
Building trust and legitimacy is one of the essential phases of establishing a successful business. Such practices can increase loyalty and generate a more recurring customer base. A study done for Google by Ipsos indicated that multitudes often resort to consulting the internet before buying any product both online or at a retail store. This is where affiliate e-commerce plays a role in building a loyal relationship with consumers. A good promotion can also help customers to make a quick decision while buying a product.
Challenges of Affiliate eCommerce
- Gaining trust
Building a transparent relationship with the consumer base is often a challenge for most online retail businesses. And in case of ensuring their trust in your content is a hectic and an anticipated procedure as most people perceive such content to be biased. However, being clear about the paid partnerships, focusing on the reviews, etc., is a principal factor in offering trustworthy and valuable advice to the customers online.
- Bringing traffic
Paid partnerships, as they are mostly called, are often based on generating sales and reaching revenue goals. Besides, the best way to achieve these goals is to attract traffic to the eCommerce platform or brand(s). However, the fluctuating numbers are an issue sometimes that might block traffic from reaching your page. Improving the SEO strategy and delivering valuable content is the need of the hour to ensure traffic and boost sales.
- Promoting a single brand
Software and retail partnerships are the building blocks of the affiliate eCommerce concept. However, the goals are repositioned to a different trajectory which can be a problem. For example, the drastic change in Amazon’s commission rates by almost 50% affected the revenue forecasts since most publishers were shifting the traffic to the website. To avoid revenue cuts, publishers should consider partnering with multiple affiliate networks.
Leading Affiliate eCommerce Vendors
- Amazon Associates – Suggest products to your reader base and get an opportunity to earn commissions.
- SOVRN Commerce– Get a chance to earn direct revenue from your content.
According to BloggingX’s post, 84% of bloggers and publishers use affiliate marketing as a means to grow their audience and earn. Moreover, In the current scenario, 81% of the brands rely on affiliate marketing strategies to grow their business. Hence, it is vividly comprehensible that the contribution of affiliate eCommerce in the current online business industry is immense and a great need of the hour.
In our next article, we will be exploring email newsletters.
