Rakuten LinkShare has announced that its various global performance marketing networks saw impressive growth throughout Q1 of 2012, with some of its strongest network sales coming from the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom.

This progress presents new opportunities for publishers, both at home and abroad.

Specifically in the U.S., the LinkShare network outperformed overall e-commerce in terms of growth by a large margin. Moreover, Forrester Research is predicting that overall e-commerce will grow by 12 percent by the end of 2012, while LinkShare has seen some of its store’s sales already increase 31 percent year-over-year in the first quarter.

The U.K. network also saw immense gains in some areas, with some overall store sales growing 52 percent year-over-year.

LinkShare has also added over 100 new brands in the first quarter. The U.S. network saw the inclusion of Steve Madden, while Canada signed Saks Fifth Avenue (who also joined the U.K. network), Kiehl’s, Biotherm and eBeauty.ca. The Japanese LinkShare network added Dyson Japan and Kurimo.

All of these brands represent a wide array of product categories (and publisher opportunities), from apparel to luxury and many more.