Digtital Window hosted its first ever press event yesterday at The Haymarket Hotel. Attended by a range of high profile editors and journalists from key industry publications, the focus of the day was “The Future of Digital”. Guests were enticed with the promise of three market-leading speakers; Richard Holway, Chairman of TechMarketView, David Rowan, Editor of Wired Magazine, and James Woudhuysen, Professor of Forecasting and Innovation at De Montfort University.

After a light champagne reception, the presentations commenced with forecasts for the next decade including how the digital landscape is changing at record-breaking speeds, the current top ten trends and how they may affect our consumer experience, and a glimpse into the oversights of individual and business engagement with regard to global technological advancements.

The afternoon continued with an open floor Q & A session where attendees directly addressed the panel, with a number of responses fuelling insightful and sometimes opposing discussions between the guest speakers! To conclude the event a delightful afternoon tea was served, with conversations continuing for the remainder of the afternoon.

As a thank you for relinquishing an entire afternoon, each attendee took home an Apple iPad. We chose this product because it’s innovative, offers the latest and greatest in technological applications and engages a growing number of online users; attributes that demonstrate a synergy with the core values of Digital Window.

For more information please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

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Firebox, leaders in the gifts, gadgets, toys and games sector was established in 1998 and initially operated out of Cardiff under the name Hotbox.co.uk. After seeing rapid growth in its inception year, the company moved to London and rebranded as Firebox.

The Firebox Affiliate Programme was established on the 6th of April 2000, when they appointed UK Affiliates network (now known as DGM). This makes it one of the oldest network affiliate programmes in the UK. Running a mature affiliate programme requires a different approach to a new one. Rather than concentrating on recruiting new affiliates, the main aim is to get the most out of the partners you already work with. Communication is about new products and launches rather than basic company details that are already widely known. Firebox maximises the opportunity to communicate with its customer base through its fortnightly newsletter sent to over 650,000 recipients.

Throughout the past decade, Firebox has worked with four different networks including DGM (formerly UKAffiliates), Tradedoubler, Affiliate Window and Affiliate Future. Currently, the programme operates under two networks; with Affiliate Window, who were appointed in 2003, constituting the vast majority of affiliate sales. Revenue generated through the affiliate channel has increased year-on-year, from a starting point of £3.7k in 2000 to over £1.75 million in 2009. To illustrate this remarkable level of growth, in 2004, after the programme had been live on the Affiliate Window platform for an entire year, affiliates generated £103,000 in sales. In 2009, the programme generated over a million pounds in sales with every year in between growing exponentially. In the last quarter of 2009, Firebox recognised an opportunity to engage with affiliates who were promoting competitor brands in an effort to grow market share amongst affiliate traffic within the gadget sector. They maximised on this exercise through additional promotions, incentives and newsletter features leading them to generate over £800,000 sales in that quarter alone.

Naomi Brown, Affiliate Marketing Manager at Firebox comments: “Our affiliate programme has shown steady growth over the last ten years and forms a key part of our marketing strategy. When we initially set it up we saw it more as a simple referral scheme, but as the affiliate industry has developed so have we. Affiliates are now our key partners and include some very large companies.”

In 2000 banners were the main form of affiliate advertising, now text links, PPC adverts and even video have become much more important. Banner advertising actually only constitutes a fraction of sales driven by affiliates.

According to Google Analytics, in 2009 the Firebox website attracted nearly 10 million visitors and served 48 million page impressions.

From 2000-2009 affiliates drove £7.75 million in product sales, and were paid over £¾m in commission. Again, looking at figures from 2004, commissions paid to affiliates on the AWin network totaled nearly £10,500 whereas in 2009, these numbers increased to £119,640. These commission figures represent considerable progression as the Firebox affiliate programme evolved into the highly successful campaign that it is today.

“Over the last ten years one of the major developments in affiliate marketing has been technology. Initially this concept was purely about tracking sales. Now it’s geared more towards providing affiliates with automated information on products and promotions, as well as better tracking the effect of different campaigns,” Brown added.

Utilising the speciality tools within Affiliate Window such as AWin Analytics and product level and voucher code tracking provides Firebox with a range of information relating to affiliate traffic, including number of visits, page views, bounce rate and the percentage of new visitors. This allows for a greater level of transparency within the programme and allows them to create more targeted campaigns for individual affiliates and affiliate types. This is in line with a growing realisation that affiliate marketing is multi-channel and a one-size fits all approach ignores the complexity of affiliates’ activity.

Firebox has also adopted the use of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to capitalise on the opportunity to communicate with their affiliate base, networks and their customers through these portals in addition to their company blog. They currently have nearly 8,000 followers on Twitter and just shy of 11,000 fans on Facebook proving that their brand is more than simply a household name.

Naomi Brown has been highly commended within the industry for her proactivity and high levels of engagement with affiliates. For the past three years running, Naomi has been shortlisted for the a4U Awards: Publishers Choice of Affiliate Manager.

Brown concludes: “Our affiliate programme provides us with an excellent transparency of results, a variety of key promotional tools, a diverse audience and proven levels of high user engagement. Moving forward, our strategy is to continue to work closely with Affiliate Window and build upon our successfully established track record. We are incredibly proud of the growth of our affiliate programme, and look forward to being part of the next ten years of developments.”

For more information please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

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Yesterday saw yet another fantastic sector specific event hosted by the leading UK affiliate networks; Affiliate Window and buy.at. LiveWire proved to be an incredible opportunity for merchants and affiliates within the consumer electronics sector to discuss relevant industry related topics and listen to new developments in an informal and relaxed environment. Attendees included Play.com, Quidco, Comet, Skimlinks, Dixons, M&S, PrismaStar, Asda, Littlewoods, Sky, TopCashback, Sainsburys, John Lewis and QVC, just to name a few.

The day began with presentations from industry experts including Michael Houlihan from Reevoo examining the influence of consumer reviews on a user’s choice, Mark MacDonald from Skimlinks showcasing tenuous trends for 2010, Richard Holway from TechMarketView presenting his 2020 Vision discussing how the next decade for the internet will be highly disruptive for users, the industry and its main players, and finally, Kevin Edwards, Strategy Director at Digital Window providing an in-depth analysis into the key metrics for a typical electrical affiliate programme.

Following the presentations was a “speed networking” session with affiliates having two minutes to speak to each individual merchant with the aim of facilitating as many introductions as possible. The idea of forging new business relationships and solidifying existing ones proved to be a success.

The event continued with guests sharing insights on the latest digital developments within the electronics industry and a Q&A panel discussing an assortment of hot topics within affiliate marketing. Attendees with an addiction for film and gaming consoles were enthralled with the exclusive Sky 3D demonstration exhibited throughout the day.

Mark Macdonald from Skimlinks commented “Awin’s Livewire event was an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with some of the biggest consumer electronics retailers online. Kevin Edwards shared some fascinating insights into the performance of electrical programs that will be hugely useful for us. A well oiled, fun day. More please!”

David Moritz from Dixons Store Group added “Livewire provided DSGi with a great opportunity to meet our much valued affiliates and discuss how we can work together to drive the program forward.”

Photos from the day are available on the Affiliate Window and Buy.at Facebook pages.

For more information please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

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The high-quality, affordable travel retailer, Lowcostholidays.com has consolidated their affiliate programme to work exclusively with Affiliate Window. Providing consumers with access to over 60 million holiday options updated daily, Lowcostholidays.com was voted the best tour operator-agent website in 2009 by Travolution, over the likes of Thomson, Thomas Cook and STA Travel. With over 300,000 customers harnessing their services within the past year, Lowcostholidays.com has solidified their position as the hub for bargain travel planning and Affiliate Window look forward to expanding upon the well-established programme.

Hannah Pitman from Lowcostholidays.com commented: “Relationships with our affiliates are very important to us; by consolidating our affiliate activity to one network it allows us to manage these relationships more closely. Affiliate Window is dedicated to helping us improve these partnerships and constantly focus their energies on maximising the potential of our publishers. For this reason, as well as many more, we are very happy to be entering this exclusive agreement.”

Katherine Eames, Account Manager at Affiliate Window added: “The lowcostholidays.com programme has gone from strength to strength, which can mainly be attributed to their positive attitude towards the affiliate channel. The team is always willing to entertain new opportunities and works closely with their network to effectively implement ideas with their publishers.

Their decision to work with Affiliate Window exclusively demonstrates their faith in us and marks the beginning of another exciting phase for the programme. We will continue to offer affiliates transparency, flexibility and responsiveness as well as working on even more targeted strategy. Our aim is to utilise the strong relationships we have built with affiliates to really get the most from the improvements and new resources that LCH are working towards; including new commission groups, additional incentives and API access to an expanded product feed.”

For more information please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

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Habitat, the international household furnishings retailer has launched an exclusive affiliate marketing programme with Digital Window.

In January 2009, Habitat began creating a fully transactional website to penetrate the online shopping market which launched in November 2009. Managed by bigmouthmedia, the multi-award winning digital marketing agency, the Habitat affiliate campaign will reap the benefits of launching on both Affiliate Window and Buy.at platforms simultaneously to offer access to the programme to a variety of preferred partners.

Andrew Girdwood, Head of Strategy at bigmouthmedia, commented: “This is a truly exciting campaign to be involved in. Not only are we working with one of the most iconic brands in UK retailing, but the involvement of both Digital Window and bigmouthmedia will see two of the digital world’s leading companies working in close partnership. We expect that dynamic to deliver some truly fantastic results.”

Denise Fender, Head of Ecommerce & Digital Marketing at Habitat, added: “Habitat are really excited to be launching their affiliate program with bigmouthmedia and Digital Window. Not only will the new program help showcase the quality and range of Habitat’s online collection, but it will also help raise brand awareness and encourage footfall to our local stores. We picked bigmouthmedia to help manage our affiliate marketing based on their experience and ability to integrate the campaign with our wider digital efforts.”

For more information please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

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The Google Earth transaction mapping gadget, as seen on the Affiliate Window stand at the a4u expo, is now available to all affiliates who have completed their Darwin Profiles.

Located within the navigation toolbar in the Darwin affiliate admin area, this fun to watch tool provides a live streaming feed of each and every transaction your affiliate account generates according to location.

If you have yet to complete your Darwin profile, there’s no time like the present, click here to get started. Once completed, the Google Earth gizmo will immediately be added to your Darwin account.

For more information on creating your Profile, check out the step-by-step guide on the Affiliate Window Wiki. For tips on making the most of this promotional tool, read our latest Focus Newsletter.

If you have any questions or need any additional information, please contact the Darwin Team.

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We are pleased to announce that John Lewis will be consolidating their affiliate programmes to Affiliate Window.

Affiliates not currently promoting John Lewis through us are encouraged to switch their links as soon as possible. The John Lewis team are working around the clock to ensure a smooth migration process. (Please be advised that if you apply to join the programme through Affiliate Window and your promotional methods are not instantly clear from your account description, they may request further information on your promotional methods with a view to getting you accepted as soon as possible)

In addition, we have some news for the existing AWin affiliate base. Before Christmas we introduced a company called PrismaStar who created product selector tools for a number of our key merchants. Now, we are pleased to reveal the John Lewis product selector widgets now available in the following categories:

• GPS
• TVs
• Camcorder
• Mobile Phones
• Cameras
• LCDs
• Notebooks
• Blue Ray Players
• Wii
• XBOX 360
• MP3 Players

Example: John Lewis Camcorders Widget

For information on how to access the John Lewis widgets from your affiliate account please click here.

John Lewis is more engaged than ever with the affiliate channel and their exclusive partnership with Affiliate Window ensures they are ready to face the challenges and opportunities that 2010 bestows.  The John Lewis team would also like to acknowledge the significant input from the affiliates working with them over the years.  Rest assured that they will continue to offer the best service possible whilst giving you all a valuable conduit to one of the UK’s most successful brands.

If you have any questions relating to the programme changes or the product selector tool please contact Rachel Humphreys.



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