Economic and technological shifts have rewritten the shopping expedition, As new shopping behaviours emerge amid, fiercely competitive environment for brands. Today, with the headway in digital trends, it has become easier for merchants to reach out the tech-savvy customers anytime, anywhere. The high-tech innovations have transformed the way people shop and the retailers market a product/service. In this tech-savvy era the growth of Smartphone users has added to the surge of e-commerce. The screens of these smart phones serve as the doorways to e-commerce stores; another interesting note is the rise of affiliate and influencer marketing which provides the prospect to a person who wants to do work from home.
In this new age, shopping has become an unavoidable routine in everybody’s life. Be it buying clothes to update one’s wardrobe or pairing your attire with a fancy hand bag, every once in a while, one needs to either head out to their nearest market or order for goods online. When it comes to shopping, while some people are more aware with the different variety of products available in the market, their ideal price points and quality standards, there are also those people who either don’t have much information about the products or can’t decide for themselves, which product they should buy and from where.
In such a scenario, many simply rely on their friend’s recommendations to make a purchase decision. What was passed on as a friendly tip or shopping advice earlier is now helping people earn some money. While earlier, one did not have any benefit for helping or assisting their known ones to pick up the right product, now a new trend is emerging wherein new age e-commerce companies emerging within the affiliates marketing space that can take the e-commerce industry to a whole new level.
Affiliate marketing is fundamentally recommendation marketing with a commission. When you refer a new customer to a business that has affiliate marketing, you get paid. Majority of the e-commerce websites offer you a chance to earn while you shop. If you get yourself enrolled in an affiliate program, you can earn & redeem real money by recommending or promoting products from these e-commerce websites to your friends and families on social media channels. With every product that someone buys by way of your shared links, they stand to earn a reward in the form of cash backs and if you recommend any product, and people buy that product through your affiliate link, the website will pay you a percentage of the sale directly to your bank account.
Many companies have adopted the model of ‘VIP membership’. It works with great success and encourages the customers to become a ‘VIP’ member on the platform which enables them to earn cash backs on every purchase they make on the platform. This can be summarised on the philosophy– ‘Buy you save, Share you earn.’
Share- you earn
There is a general tendency that if you are delighted with your purchase, you immediately share and recommend the product to your friends and family. While other retail outlets and e-commerce platforms don’t have any program to reward you for driving additional sale to them, each website has its own Affiliate Program, like Amazon has it’s Amazon Associates Program, E-bay has E-bay Partners, Shopify has it’s own affiliate program, these websites might not provide you the real cash into your account but you can still get the money redeemed into your e-commerce account. If you aim to eradicate this, some websites like LaYuva is the way ahead, when someone buys the product, you recommend, your efforts are paid off and you can get cashbacks in return.
To be a leader in affiliate marketing, networks and agencies must recognize that advertisers are seeking more than just one-off leads or incremental sales. They want advocates and storytellers who can engage potential shoppers, demonstrate vertical expertise, and strengthen brand loyalty to inspire long-term relationship. Affiliate marketing is a proven channel, strengthened by its access to data and quantifiable results. The opportunity is now for both advertisers and their affiliate networks to embrace affiliate marketing and make it as cost-effective and transparent. In this case, the whole – affiliate marketing and influencer marketing – is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to make money, diversify your income streams, and to earn money passively. Just remember to choose programs and products that you yourself would use and buy. Promoting a lousy product or service could damage your reputation, so be sure to always place people over profits.
Authored Article by Mr. Rahul Bahukhandi, CEO & Co-founder, Layuva – an eCommerce marketplace
