New Delhi: The Indian arm of the globally renowned Admitad Affiliate Network, has experienced a phenomenal expansion of their business through the onboarding of online brands in 2020. The company facilitated INR 350 crores worth sales across various categories of advertisers, who capitalized on India’s move towards digital. Since the spread of COVID-19, people relied heavily on online shopping, making affiliate channels an essential component for brands to meet their marketing and sales objectives. Purchases through e-commerce portals generated significant sales across categories such as fashion, digital appliances, food delivery, health & beauty, pharmacy, groceries, to name a few.
Further to this, affiliate marketing was the go to avenue for various emerging sectors such as entertainment, education, IT solutions, online gaming, and FinTech. There has been a surge in demand for video-on-demand (VOD)/ OTT platforms, learning through courses offered by EdTech companies, digital transactions, and other services in the financial sector, as India underwent successive lockdowns and imposition of social distancing norms. On the part of affiliate networks, investment in automated processes, messenger bots, express payment services for publishers, and an overall increase in the onboarding of publishers, contributed to their annual growth numbers.
The changes are further owed to people’s affinity towards using digital payments, VOD services, social media, and conducting online research on products. As a consequence, several startups and brands mushroomed last year, which invested in D2C in a bid to reach target audiences seamlessly. The D2C-Affiliate marketing synergy is allowing smaller brands to make an impact, as many offline brands now have the option of minimizing the impact of third parties in their business. The trends were noticeable for instance, in subscriptions for OTT platforms, which generated sales worth INR 15 crores. Similarly IT solutions garnered INR 14 crores in sales, and consumers availed close to 3 lakh financial offers in all categories.
Speaking on their performance and forecast for 2021, Neha Kulwal, Country Manager_India – Admitad Affiliate Network said, “2020 saw the emergence of not just D2C brands and startups, but also a game-changing transition of the Indian people towards digital processes. Affiliate channels were an important driver for several brands, and the numbers reflect an upward trend for 2021 as well. We invested in making our processes faster and easier for both publishers and advertisers, and expect more traction to follow suit.”
