A $1 Million Proposal And Retailers Who Publish Affiliate Offers

[TE2]

Here's the situation:

I am advising a "Bricks and Clicks" fashion footwear retailer that they need to monetize their existing e-commerce web traffic and email bursts with complimentary affiliate offers.

I have given them complimentary offer examples and detailed traffic/conversion/revenue estimates if they do.

The most conservative estimate is $1 million and that is very conservative - I think it is more realistically in the $3-5 million range.

They're stuck:

Their EVP and Chief Planning Officer is on board but their CEO is cold to the idea, and their Chief Merchandising Officer and EVP Stores/COO are on the fence.

What I need:

I need to show examples of other retailers who are publishing affiliate offers. This retailer does women's shoes and I have shown them that Steve Madden (another women' shoes e-tailer) does this with free magazine trial offers. That's not enough proof of concept for them.

Can anyone point me to articles, case studies, or other examples of major retailers who publish affiliate offers?

Your time and consideration are greatly appreciated!

Regards,

John

[TE2]

I guess I have stumped the panel of experts!

[Frank Donovan]

Hi John

You could start by showing them a list of retailers that use the Commission Junction affiliate network:

Commission Junction - Featured advertisers

Then maybe set up a consultation with a CJ account manager...


Frank

[Mike Adams]

How about Amazon.com... I think they make a few bucks online.

[Popstar]

The question you need to answer is why is their CEO cold to the idea and why are their Chief Merchandising Officer and EVP Stores/COO on the fence?

When you address those concerns, you'll make the sale. You've already shown them some data that supports your position. Just getting more data may not be enough.

Try to find out what's really stopping them. They may not have shared their real concerns with you yet.

Also, look at the company politics of the situation. You say the EVP and Chief Planning Officer is on board. But this sounds like someone who's in a staff position, not a line position (i.e., someone who actually makes the profits).

The other people you mentioned would be involved in making profits. They may not take a planner seriously. That happens at a lot of companies.

Do you have direct access to any of the other executives you mentioned?

If so, I'd try to see what their actual concerns are. Not many CEOs turn down a new revenue stream without good reason.

[drmani]

Originally Posted by TE2

Can anyone point me to articles, case studies, or other examples of major retailers who publish affiliate offers?

John

John, I suspect Jay Abraham or Spike Humer will be able to share some
client experiences/case studies with you.

It's one of the add-on revenue streams Jay teaches in his programs.

Hope this helps.

All success
Dr.Mani

[TE2]

Thanks to everyone who replied. All great suggestions!

I have a very tight relationship with this company. I have direct access to anyone and everyone in the company. I have done multiple successful projects with them over 4 years.

The last one I did was a change to their special orders program that turned it from ~ $580K/year to close to $3 million/year. i did that at close to no expense for them - minor systems change and the rest process re-engineering. There are many other success stories

Their reluctance is due to them being brick and mortar retailers. Yes, they have had a website for the last 10 years that does well, but they are not online marketers and this is out of their comfort zone. Even their own website (a multi-million dollar one) is a second class citizen to them. Their marketing department is capable of nothing more than creating store signage. No clue when it comes to on-line marketing (and that's good for me).

They want to see proof that others like them are "Publishing" affiliate offers. They are also concerned about protecting their current business and brand.

It's akin to asking for 3 references at this stage - and I'm looking for references per se.

So again - thank you to everyone who replied.

John

[FredFarnes]

It may be a little intimidating for your client, but Zappos and Amazon are probably your two best examples. We sell loads of shoes and boots via CJ/Zappos and others.

This is one of our favorite niches, for SEO revenue. On the SEO affiliate end, it's highly competitive, but lucrative if you know what you're doing.

Your client probably can't imagine being a new Zappos, so perhaps the smaller shoe/apparel companies in CJ would be better for your purposes. There are some minor players, and specialty companies, with green/eco shoes, or vintage apparel etc, that may be more appropriate examples.

I suspect your client sees this as something too far out of their comfort zone, and too risky with up-front costs. They may feel a sense of losing control of their business, because this is an unfamiliar/uncomfortable direction. If you can break the project into smaller segments with defined risk and each with profit goals, it may be more palatable to them?

An a different topic, I sent you a PM about some CPV issues. It would be great to pick your brain and exchange ideas with you on that front.

[TE2]

Originally Posted by FredFarnes

It may be a little intimidating for your client, but Zappos and Amazon are probably your two best examples. We sell loads of shoes and boots via CJ/Zappos and others.

This is one of our favorite niches, for SEO revenue. On the SEO affiliate end, it's highly competitive, but lucrative if you know what you're doing.

Your client probably can't imagine being a new Zappos, so perhaps the smaller shoe/apparel companies in CJ would be better for your purposes. There are some minor players, and specialty companies, with green/eco shoes, or vintage apparel etc, that may be more appropriate examples.

I suspect your client sees this as something too far out of their comfort zone, and too risky with up-front costs. They may feel a sense of losing control of their business, because this is an unfamiliar/uncomfortable direction. If you can break the project into smaller segments with defined risk and each with profit goals, it may be more palatable to them?

An a different topic, I sent you a PM about some CPV issues. It would be great to pick your brain and exchange ideas with you on that front.

Thanks.

In this case, they are an established niche shoe retailer with a very significant amount of web and email traffic that can be further monetized with complimentary affiliate offers. I have done the numbers and suggested testing a small portion of their traffic as a proof of concept. They can literally do this for no cost by simply adding the affiliate offer to an email campaign.

Their reluctance is that they are an old school brick and mortar retailer. They have lots of projects going on and since those cost significant money, those get the attention since they have money on the line.

Until I come up with proof of concept in the form of other retailers doing it, it isn't going anywhere.

John

[KirkMcD]

Stupid question, because some of the above answers seem to be in the wrong direction:
Are you trying to convince them to start an affiliate program or are you trying to convince them to publish affiliate ads on there current website?

If it's the second, their concerns about protecting their brand are valid and if they do have an existing affilaite program or will start one, affiliates won't stand for it and will quit or will never join.
Now, if you are not worried about existing affiliates and want to protect the brand, you should be publishing ads for complimentary products or better yet JV with the complimentary products and try to do cross promotions.

Take a look at these blogs for some ideas:
Tag cross-promotion @ The Powertex Group Promotional Marketing Blog
and
Smith-Harmon - Make It Pop!

[MichaelHiles]

This is a local niche retailer that does EXTREMELY well with their retail business, but sells exclusively as an affiliate for cooking.com on the web.

http://www.cookswaresonline.com/

They have a very nice (upscale) boutique shop that focuses on high end cookware by teaching lots of gourmet cooking classes in their facility.

They recognize that they aren't in the online and mail order fulfillment business, and just make some cash off their web traffic.

I think this is more along the lines of what you're looking for?

[TE2]

Originally Posted by KirkMcD

Stupid question, because some of the above answers seem to be in the wrong direction:
Are you trying to convince them to start an affiliate program or are you trying to convince them to publish affiliate ads on there current website?

If it's the second, their concerns about protecting their brand are valid and if they do have an existing affilaite program or will start one, affiliates won't stand for it and will quit or will never join.
Now, if you are not worried about existing affiliates and want to protect the brand, you should be publishing ads for complimentary products or better yet JV with the complimentary products and try to do cross promotions.

Take a look at these blogs for some ideas:
Tag cross-promotion @ The Powertex Group Promotional Marketing Blog
and
Smith-Harmon - Make It Pop!

Yup, the second one - publish ads on their site and also in their promotional and transactional emails. And in their social media sites.

They do not have an affiliate program of their own. I am advising them to publish affiliate offers that are complimentary to their products.

Thanks,

John

ps - More thanks... this is helps greatly.