Next - Wiping The Slate Clean or Pulling The Wool Over Our Eyes?
Friday, February 1st, 2008We’ve all been waiting with bated breath (well OK, we haven’t) for Next to announce the ‘changes’ to their Affiliate Programme as outlined on the A4UForum and, although we’re still waiting for Buyat to roll this programme out, Affilinet have emailed the full details this morning, and …
mmm, well nothing’s changed actually, apart from the change of Network, the commission is still only 2%.
which will come as no big surprise to the majority of affiliates. True, they are offering incentives to all affiliates who swap their links from Affiliate Window to either of the two new networks, so that’s a plus - well, it is if you’re one of the lucky 6!!
SO WHY THE SWITCH?
Obviously merchants and agencies do not need to explain why they choose one network over another, and sometimes it does seem like a virtual merry-go-round with all the switching that goes on between the networks - it is a pain, but part of Affiliate life.
But the timing of this particular switch leaves a very sour taste in the mouth (Jonny started with the cliches - I’m just going with the flow)
In my view it’s been a case of get someone to do the dirty work (Awin), they get all the flak and when the sh!ts well and truly stuck to the fan, then we’ll cut and run with our shiny reputations in tact and reinvent ourselves on other networks - DOH!!!
only one thing wrong with that scenario, Next and I-level are assuming most Affiliates are, in the words of Affi-liate, NUMPTIES of the finest order, and we’re so incredibly gullible that we’ll smile and swallow all that bullsh!t, as we did when they lowered their commission rates - twice!
So two things to think about before swapping those links -
Would you be happy in Affiliate Windows shoes now? and
If John Lewis, The White Company, Otto Group and The Home Shopping Group can afford to pay decent commission rates for quality traffic - why can’t Next, Argos, ToysRus etc?
IT’S YOUR FUTURE - ACT NOW - ONLINE SPENDING IS ONLY GOING IN ONE DIRECTION AND WE CANNOT AFFORD TO SELL OUT TO THE LOWEST BIDDER