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Do people in the UK shop at Amazon.co.uk?

by kilgore
16 replies
Does anyone have a sense for how much users in the UK use Amazon.co.uk? When I compare my UK traffic and Amazon conversions to the US traffic and conversions, I'm a bit disappointed.

For instance, last month I earned about $0.045/visitor from people in the US but only $0.004/visitor from the UK -- which is less then 10 times less. There are a number of valid technical and non-technical reasons why the US should have a better sales ratio than the UK, but I wouldn't expect the differnece to be this much.

For those with experience as Amazon.co.uk affiliates, have you had a similar experience?

For those who live in the UK, do you have any insight on how much people shop at Amazon.co.uk? I've heard from many users in Canada for instance that they often purchase from Amazon.com rather than Amazon.ca because it can be cheaper and offer more selection. Is that true in the UK too? Are there other stores that people prefer to shop at?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone might have to offer!
#amazoncouk #people #shop
  • Profile picture of the author Katie Rich
    The whole of the UK fits in a tiny corner of America, of course the visitor numbers will be significantly smaller.

    I always use Amazon. co.uk, in most cases it's the only site Amazon allow me to use. Should I click a link that takes me to .com then most of the time Amazon will not allow me to buy but will redirect me.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by kilgore View Post

    Do people in the UK shop at Amazon.co.uk?
    Yes.

    Originally Posted by kilgore View Post

    There are a number of valid technical and non-technical reasons why the US should have a better sales ratio than the UK, but I wouldn't expect the differnece to be this much.
    For some of us, the biggest factor underlying the discrepancy is amazon.co.uk's commission-ceiling of £7 per item, regardless of price. That can hugely reduce the average commission-size.

    Originally Posted by kilgore View Post

    I've heard from many users in Canada for instance that they often purchase from Amazon.com rather than Amazon.ca because it can be cheaper and offer more selection. Is that true in the UK too?
    No.

    Very few users of amazon.co.uk also have (or want) an account at amazon.com, and certainly wouldn't want to pay the transatlantic international shipping. Nobody who lives in the UK is going to order from amazon.com an item which is also available from amazon.co.uk. I'm not even sure whether it's possible to do that. (I've made a couple of orders of CD's from amazon.com but they were items not available from amazon.co.uk).

    The population of the UK is about 20% of that of the US, though we're told that internet usage is, pro rata, actually a fraction more common in the UK than in the US (which surprised me, but it seems to be so).
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    • Profile picture of the author Katie Rich
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Yes.For some of us, the biggest factor underlying the discrepancy is amazon.co.uk's commission-ceiling of £7 per item, regardless of price. That can hugely reduce the average commission-size.
      I didn't know THAT! I also didn't realise I needed to have a separate affiliate account for Amazon.com. Off to sort that one out right now!
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  • Profile picture of the author kilgore
    Thanks to both of you for your replies. I do realize that I'm not going to be making the same from the UK as I do from the US -- right now I get about 10 times the visitors from the US as I do from the UK after all.

    And Alexa, you're absolutely right that the £7 per item cap could be part of the reason for the discrepancy (as is the fact that only about 70% of the items featured on my site are available on amazon.co.uk).

    All that said, based on your responses, I'm wondering if there is something that I need to fix on the technical side (I wrote custom code that uses Maxmind's GeoIP database to detect countries) or in the presentation of my links. And I'll definitely be doing a lot more testing from UK IP addresses.

    Thanks again for your help!
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  • Profile picture of the author wilks3y
    I agree with everyone else !

    I always use Amazon.co.uk if the possibility is there, as it just feels more comfortable to me and ofcourse, why wouldn't I?

    However, I have also affiliated for .co.uk and .com versions of Amazon, and yes Amazon.com performs substantially better.

    Probably due to the fact that America is nearly 38 times the size of the UK!
    (Don't ask me how I know this, just one of those random facts you pickup online).

    Alex.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by wilks3y View Post

      Probably due to the fact that America is nearly 38 times the size of the UK!
      I didn't know this.

      I suspect its population (about 5 times the size?) may perhaps be a slightly more significant statistic in this context?
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Garratt
    Yes we all shop at amazon.co.uk all the time. Seriously. Even some people on continental Europe order from .co.uk because it's often cheaper than the .de or other european amazon site even with the additional shipping charges.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stevie C
    From a Google search US Population 313.9 million UK Population 63.23 million.
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    • Profile picture of the author AdamJ85
      For everyone mentioning population - he's talking about a difference in revenue per visitor, so the relative population of the US versus the UK is completely irrelevant.
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      • Profile picture of the author kilgore
        Originally Posted by AdamJ85 View Post

        For everyone mentioning population - he's talking about a difference in revenue per visitor, so the relative population of the US versus the UK is completely irrelevant.
        Yes, thank you for noticing and clarifying what I did a poor job putting into words. Regardless, it seems like people do indeed shop at Amazon.co.uk so I've got some debugging to do in my geolocation scripts...

        Thanks again all for your feedback! It was definitely very helpful!
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        • Profile picture of the author KyleG1461
          Generally if you type in Amazon into your favourite search engine from a British computer, the first result will be Amazon.co.uk. You have to actively type in the .com to get it to go to the American site.

          Even on the American site homepage from our end, there is a banner that takes you back to the British site.



          I'm not sure if the average Briton even knows there is a difference between the two sites. Amazon is Amazon innit?!
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        • Profile picture of the author AdamJ85
          Originally Posted by kilgore View Post

          Yes, thank you for noticing and clarifying what I did a poor job putting into words. Regardless, it seems like people do indeed shop at Amazon.co.uk so I've got some debugging to do in my geolocation scripts...
          I use the Amazon Link Localizer plugin for Wordpress.

          If you use Wordpress then it could be worth taking a look. It works really well for me - though you do have to be sure to replace all of the affiliate IDs with your own in the plugin settings.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by AdamJ85 View Post

        For everyone mentioning population - he's talking about a difference in revenue per visitor, so the relative population of the US versus the UK is completely irrelevant.
        We know, Adam, but the relative populations are one relevant component of the broader discussion of the relative merits of UK-residents being affiliates of amazon.co.uk and of amazon.com, which has also been raised here. Forums are chatty places, and sometimes the conversation expands a little from its original question.


        .
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        • Profile picture of the author AdamJ85
          I know, Alexa, and if you personally were making that point then fine. But some people certainly were not (e.g. "The whole of the UK fits in a tiny corner of America, of course the visitor numbers will be significantly smaller."). It's worth pointing this out in order to help both those people and others reading this thread.
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  • Profile picture of the author Adie
    I have a number of sales n Amazon UK so yes, they buy especially books and other kindle materials.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nuno
    I spent many thousands at Amazon.co.uk
    Up to some weeks ago they had free shipping to many countries in Europe, but no more.
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    I have 15+ years of experience & millions of visitors (I'm also a warrior since 2002)!
    NunoAlex.com explains how I can help.     I'm looking for a limited number of serious partners.
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