'Net Features : Rakuten

Rakuten LinkShare Tops List of Affiliate Networks

Michael Garrity — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Awards season is upon us, and for the second year in a row, Rakuten LinkShare cleaned up.

Each year, the media company mThink compiles its Blue Book survey of various online advertisers, publishers and agencies to rank the top 20 CPA and affiliate networks in each respective industry. Survey participation rose over 40 percent this year, meaning mThink was able to consider the opinions of over 10,000 industry professionals with experience in affiliate marketing and working with various industry networks.

The survey’s results are then validated by an external panel of third-party industry experts that “span every aspect of the online marketing community.”

Rakuten LinkShare captured the number one spot on mThink’s list for the second year in a row, beating out a list of major names in the affiliate marketing industry, including Commission Junction (#2), Amazon (#3), ShareASale (#5), Affiliate Window (#12) and many more.

“We’re grateful to the industry for honoring and recognizing our commitment to performance marketing and to the success of our partners,” says Rakuten LinkShare CEO Yaz Iida. “Earning this award for the second year in a row further motivates us to continue to lead the industry in ways that will empower advertisers, publishers and agencies to see even stronger results in the future as we strive to maintain our ranking.”

In the CPA networks category, Clickbooth/Integraclick earned the top spot, followed by Neverblue, MaxBounty, PeerFly and MediaWhiz MonetizeIt, to round out the top five.

Is There Value in Affiliate Marketing?

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:15:00 GMT

Affiliate marketing continues to be an effective practice for advertisers/merchants, but how much value is really brought by performance-based marketers (affiliates)?

A recent survey from the Rakuten-Linkshare affiliate network indicates that despite the well publicized challenges, affiliate marketing spend is on the rise and is forecasted to keep pace with other areas of digital spend through 2016.

According to the study the affiliate channel is best for producing "new-to-file" or previously unknown customers and generating incremental customer acquisition. The customers acquired through performance marketing also tend to spend more than the average online shopper and are ultimately profitable for advertisers. Perhaps the most important revelation was that promotions in the affiliate channel have a positive impact on an advertiser’s brand reputation and loyalty.

Forrester, which conducted the study, forecasts U.S. affiliate marketing spending will increase by a compounded annual growth rate of nearly 17 percent between 2011 and 2016, growing to $4.5 billion.

LinkShare Affiliate Network Sees Explosive Growth

Michael Garrity — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT

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.

Japanese E-Commerce Giant Gaining Ground in U.S.

Linc Wonham — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Forget about Facebook for the time being. When it comes to aspirations of world domination on the Web, the company to watch is Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. The largest and most successful e-commerce company in Japan announced its acquisition of California-based Buy.com last week, along with its goal “to become the number one e-commerce and Internet company in the world,” according to CEO Hiroshi Mikitani.

With a unique approach to e-commerce, a partnership with Chinese search giant Baidu, and now a growing presence in the U.S., Rakuten is a company of note for Web watchers. In addition to its $250 million agreement to purchase Buy.com, Rakuten’s U.S. interests also include affiliate marketing network Linkshare, which it bought in 2005.

Rakuten’s e-commerce model has a distinctly Japanese flavor, which it plans to inject into Buy.com while retaining most or all of its U.S. employees. The approach is one that fuses shopping with entertainment and emphasizes a more featured role from merchants than we see in other parts of the world.

“If we can convert it into what we do here in Japan, then it is going to be a lot more powerful,” Mikitani said. “We believe that we have a very different business model from Amazon and eBay. We empower the merchants.”

Make sure that Rakuten is on your radar if it's not already.