Affiliate Marketing has helped leverage the brands digitally and has added value to their online presence
The concept of revenue sharing—paying commission for referred business—predates affiliate marketing and the Internet. The translation of the revenue share principles to mainstream e-commerce happened in November 1994, almost four years after the origination of the World Wide Web.
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Affiliate marketing is frequently overlooked by advertisers. While search engines, e-mail, and web site syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile. Still, affiliates continue to play a significant role in e-retailers’ marketing strategies.
One of the leading players in this domain is iCubesWire, led by dynamic Sahil Chopra who is amongst the top digital name in this country. Indiadigital eview`s team recently interacted with Sahil and spoke to him about the developments at iCubesWire, Overall Industry future and many others things. Read On : –
What is Affiliate marketing and how has it evolved in last 5 years?
Affiliate Marketing is a terminology well acknowledged in the marketing World. To simplify the concept, it can be defined in 4 easy steps. When an online shopper decides to buy an item, he lands on the merchant’s site through the ads being directed towards him & when the shopper finally makes a purchase, the merchant rewards the affiliate for the efforts.
Affiliate marketing has experienced an escalated shift over the years. Initially, the focus was solely on customer acquisition. Now, the process has moved ahead multi-folds with the brands focusing more on life-time value of the customer making a shift towards true ROI against every penny spent. The 80% – 20% ratio of customer acquisition & customer interaction respectively has swapped places with one another in the last few years. KPI & goals are evolving & the aim is towards achieving true ROI. With the onset of big data, the measurement matrix is getting wider.
Has India experienced any growth in Affiliate marketing/ buying? How is it compared to global markets?
India’s economy is progressing and so is the expansion of affiliate marketing. The affiliate industry is at a mature stage in US, while in India the culture is picking up due to e-commerce sites especially with the onset of Amazon and other brands dutifully following suit. The affiliate industry is gaining more competence with each passing year and the companies that have understood the nerve of affiliate marketing have flourished well.
What kinds of brands are leveraging affiliate advertising in India?
Integration of online & offline has made all the brands leverage affiliate marketing in India. Besides retail, e-commerce, hospitality, traditional sectors like BFSI, FMCG, automobile, education, telecom, tours & travels etc. are also allocating marketing budgets to affiliate marketing and have arguably become the biggest advocates of affiliate marketing.
How many ad agency partners do you currently work with in India?
We partner with tremendous number of ad agencies & have a long-term association with more than 90% of them. We even brace an exclusive partnership with a few of them.
What are the key trends emerging in affiliate marketing in future?
There is tremendous evolution which includes the objective of consumer acquisition to multi-fold engagements. An innovation that calculates every penny spent thereby measuring each step of the journey would be fruitful. The focus has shifted to detecting fraud thereby detecting true ROI, big-data analysis by enhancing the lifetime value of acquisitions. Merger of offline with online will lead to cross-platform tagging making it easier for recall value of the brand. Artificial Intelligence will streamline the work within partners and has a vast scope waiting to be explored.
Can you please tell us the brands that have been exceptional in using the affiliate marketing route?
Affiliate Marketing has helped leverage the brands digitally and has added value to their online presence. Amazon, Paytm, P&G, Myntra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and many more brands that have imparted a whole new meaning to Affiliate Marketing. With the ROI driven approach, affiliate marketing will never die down. Along with branding being an ongoing process there is a considerable allocation to affiliate marketing with all the brands eyeing towards meeting the end objectives. Digital being measurable & affiliate marketing a promise towards meeting this end objective, it is bound to remain a considerable means by leading brands.
