Understanding the UK MarketJames Little, Head of Affiliate Development, AffiliateFuture (UK)

INTRODUCTION

Introduction – Who am I?

Head of Affiliate Development at AffiliateFuture

UK Affiliate Evangelist

6 Years experience in Affiliate Industry at all levels (Affiliate, Merchant, Agency, Network).

Member of IAB Affiliate Council

Blogger (www.3wdl.co.uk) and Freelance Journalist

Introduction - AffiliateFuture

• Fastest growing affiliate network in the UK, offices in USA & Madrid - Responsible for £160 million worth of sales in 2007

• Over 4% overall conversion rate, across 130,000 affiliates and 950 merchants

• Number one affiliate network for Travel merchants and affiliates

• 3-Stage tracking including Cookieless Tracking via

• 76,580,497 total unique clicks processed in 12 months

THE UK AND ONLINE

The UK and Online – UK Stats

• The UK Population: 61,186,000 (est: Jan 08)• Expected to grow to 65m by 2016 and 77m by 2060• 22nd most populated country in the world

• Internet Usage at 41,817,847 - 68.6% of population• 7th Highest Internet users (After China, US, Japan, India, Germany and Brazil)

• Gross National Income (per Capita) of US $24,486.70• 6th Highest Worldwide (After Luxembourg, Switzerland, Japan, Norway and USA)

• Population density of 247 persons per sq km• 20th Highest Worldwide

The UK and Online – Shopping and Affiliate Stats 97% of Internet users have shopped online; joint second behind

South Korea – US is 94%

Total Online UK Sales 2007 £46.6bn (growing by 54%)

Affiliate Sales - £3.13 billion in sales in the UK (£2.16bn 2006, £1.35bn 2005)

Figures ignore lead based programmes, adult industry and gambling sectors

Affiliate Marketing accounts for 7% of all online business in the UK

The UK and Online – Behind the Stats Stats are all very well – but what do they mean?

High Internet Usage More people shopping online every year Mature affiliate market (lots of merchants offering commission) High income per Capita

Lots of opportunities to monetise UK traffic!

HOT UK AFFILIATE TOPICS

Hot Topics – What you should know Spyware is banned by all major UK networks Last click always wins Offers are not typically recycled by multiple networks – lack of “CPA”

networks based out of UK Most networks do not support 3rd party pixel tracking from affiliates as

most networks have bespoke software No standardised formats for anything (datafeeds, vouchers, etc)! Consumer behaviour is different

“Sales letter” type websites do not get the same kind of response as over regions UK MLM & Ebooks marketers tend to market globally rather than to the UK as we’re slightly

less receptive to them

Delivery of items is equally important to customers as price Cost, Time of Delivery, etc

Hot Topics – Voucher Codes

Discount & Voucher codes key terms Click to Reveal most common practice IAB Rules / Guidelines to be enforced from Jan 09

Separation of offers and discounts Valid codes

Glory days now gone Competitive (1 in 7 sites a voucher code sites) Some merchants no longer issuing codes / lowering commission

(Figleaves example) New services make it easier to find codes

Promotions.co.uk iCodes

Hot Topics – Cashback/Incentive

Cashback starting to become mainstream MSN/MirrorCashback/SunCashback/GMTV/Kelkoo TV Advertising for Cashback.co.uk –

http://www.sgud.co.uk/index26.html 100% Cashback sites most popular (Quidco).. Others include

50% Cashback Point based sites

Some larger merchants leaving cashback sites (John Lewis) due to question marks their benefits

Hot Topics – Other

De-Duping - One of the biggest challenges of the industry at present Doubleclick and Atlas tracking not reliable – research shows only 60% display rate of tracking code Some merchants de-duping against inhouse brand PPC; affiliates not informed

Rise of CPL campaigns, typically low value and used for list building Influx of CPA email providers (traditionally CPM) Brand name bidding

Brand name bidding not what it was Brandwatcher

The Credit Crunch Merchants “going under” ATOL bonding and consumer protection now a sales point

Payment term changes – less networks paying out in advance Anti-fraud measures being put in place by networks

THE TOP 5 UK NETWORKS

Top 5 Networks – AffiliateFuture

5 Day Validation Period Strong technology

Cookieless Tracking Travel, Retail, Voucher and Cashback APIs

Monthly payment on all transactions Strong account & affiliate management Strongest network for travel clients (typically v. High ticket value) Based in UK, Europe and USA Won IMA best use of AM award

Top 5 Networks – Affiliate Window

Lots of High Street Retailers Regular (twice monthly) payments Strong account and affiliate management Good reporting and stat packages Good product feed solutions (ShopWindow) Good anti-fraud measures

Hot Topics – Buy.at/Platform A

Now an international network Good support for PPC affiliates Next-gen affiliate interface Strong in Finance and Services/Utilities Short run and specialist campaigns through Advertising.com Variety of campaign type earnings (CPM, CPC as well as CPA)

Top 5 Networks – CJ

Well established with large variety of programmes with true global reach Large variety of promotional options

Email Creative Coupon Creative Smartzones (allowing ratings)

Top 5 Networks – Tradedoubler

Large range of merchants Plenty of reporting metrics Ad “Pool” for displaying creative based on conversion rate Strong in other European areas Website verification to protect merchants and affiliates

SOME SUPER AFFILIATES

MyVoucherCodes

Largest Vouchercode site in UK Received 8.5m+ UV’s in December 08 Email database of over 500,000 users 3500 merchants listed Over 1000 active voucher codes at any one time Over 5000 active deals and offers listed Running since Nov 2006

Top Cash Back

2nd Largest cashback site 200,000 Active members (who have logged in recently) Over 1,600 Merchants Listed 0.25m Transactions in December 08 Generated over £5m in sales in December 08

Holiday Watchdog

Started by two people in 2003 Listing over 40,000 hotels Powered by User generated content (Reviews, text + video) Receives approx 8m PV’s per month Recently sold for undisclosed sum to Expedia/TripAdvisor

(rumoured £9m)

Mobiles4Everyone

Established in 2002 - UK’s first mobile phone price comparison site Compares over 300,000 deals from around 20 merchants/suppliers Offers instant white label site plus datafeed, iframes and scripts Has more than 200 active sub-affiliates/partners Powers many high profile sites: Mobileshop.com, Uswitch.com,

Top10.co.uk

2009 PREDICITIONS

Evolution by merchants (Sunpress) More CPL campaigns More Niche merchants (and networks) Network consolation More expansion into the UK from Overseas publishers, merchants

and networks (esp. US)

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS