Starting an ecommerce store can be a lucrative online business, but you should be willing to invest a lot of time and money to get started. If you were on the phone about taking a leap, there is another attractive option that could be just a ticket: creating an affiliate store.
What is affiliate marketing ?
I would like to describe affiliate marketing as a partnership between a content publisher publisher and a retailer with a collaborative program hosted by a consistent tracking platform. After approval of the compliance program, the publisher can log on to the vendor's affiliate platform and receive separate product tracking links, commonly known as affiliate links.
There are more than 31 ways to try and benefit from affiliate links, such as adding them to written content, using them to create product lists, verbally in podcasts or banner ads. Whenever a visitor clicks on one of these affiliate links and makes a purchase on the seller's site, the publisher is entitled to receive a commission from the seller for helping them make a sale.
Compliance links are automatically managed by the merchant affiliate platform. Whenever a visitor clicks a link, a tracking cookie is stored in the visitor's web browser that notifies the seller which publisher has sent the visitor to their site. Those cookies are valid for a specified period of time (determined by the seller) and I have seen the remaining windows to be 365 days and as short as one hour. That means the publisher is only paid if the visitor buys within this period, or that window can be reset if the same guest clicks the interaction link again.
In addition to the relevant links, publishers can gain access to tracking reports (clicks, sales, impressions), additional extras (banners, copy, email templates) within the vendor interactive platform. These forums also handle commission payments so publishers can expect to be paid simultaneously each month, usually by Paypal or a direct deposit.
What is a Affiliate Store ?
In the case of a related store, the publisher's content is a list of products in a store that looks like a real ecommerce store. Instead of listing your products you sell, you list other vendor products and redirect visitors to their sites using your relevant links. When guests complete their purchase, the seller pays a commission and handles the product fulfillment directly with the visitor.
PROS:
- Less expensive: Compared to the investment required to build, launch and grow a regular ecommerce store, you will spend less money to create your affiliate store as affiliate programs are free to join and there is no list of products you can invest in.
- Subsidiary customer service: Your affiliate vendors will deal with customer problems - such as shipping, retrieval or general inquiries - so you will spend less time dealing with customer service.
- Product Awareness: By banning managed products from well-known brands in your store, you will increase trust and have a better chance of converting visitors into consumers.
- Multiple Contributions: If you have an existing ecommerce store, adding products to this combination will allow you to increase product offerings and revenue without investing in extending your product line.
CONS:
- Lower Margins: The commission prices offered by most of the programs associated with a portable product will not empower you to give, so you will earn less per sale than you would earn by selling your products.
- Excluded Experience: If you manage products from more than one vendor on your site, you will have to send visitors to multiple sites when they try to come up with different products. Combined experiences can leave them frustrated and severely damage your conversion rate.
- No guarantees: On the flip side, if your affiliate store does not divert the amount of products it advertises, your revenue could be significantly affected if your major retailer removes you due to Nexus Proxy law or you choose to close the affiliate program.
- Product Storage: Although you have all the tools out there, there is still a handy task needed to keep your product links, descriptions and images accurate and up to date.