'Net Features : back-to-school

Educate Yourself on These Back-to-School Affiliate Programs

Michael Garrity — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:30:00 GMT

As the summer draws to an unfortunate close, merchants are scrambling to bring in the rest of the back-to-school shoppers out there preparing for the upcoming academic year. Here at Website Magazine, we’ve already looked at some of the best online marketing practices of e-commerce merchants for this school shopping season, but that leaves out one crucial element of the Internet advertising landscape – affiliates.

A Commission Junction study from earlier this year looked at how back-to-school shoppers use the Web to make their purchasing decisions and determined that affiliate marketing channels are “well-suited” to help marketers reach these consumers. With the school shopping period’s sales peak coming up in the fourth week of August, it’s now or never for affiliate marketers to partner up with one (or more) of these hip affiliate programs to bring in some of that back-to-school cash.

Walmart

Walmart is unquestionably the leader in the retail industry, and it is bound to be the go-to destination for many consumers looking to purchase school supplies, clothing, electronics, dorm room furniture, food, cosmetics, vitamins, chewing gum and a multitude of other goods needed to start the school year off right. The retail giant runs its own affiliate program and offers partners banners and text links, data feeds, RSS feeds, a link generator and more.

Urban Outfitters

This chic clothing retailer offers fashions (as well as fun books and knickknacks) for young men and women from high school through college. Boasting hip apparel that appeals to such a wide range of back-to-school shoppers makes Urban Outfitters an ideal merchant partner. Plus, it will even provide you with reports that track your traffic and earnings, so you can keep up with the performance of your campaign.

Best Buy

Yeah, yeah, I know, Best Buy isn’t exactly doing great right now, but the faltering electronics retailer has at least one more big back-to-school shopping season left in it, and that means that students will inevitably flock to it to purchase new laptops, iPods, home theatre appliances and other accessories. The Best Buy affiliate program pays its affiliate partners based on how much the visitors they direct buy from the site, and helps them out by offering text links, banner ads, widgets and its Best Buy BBY Open API that provides access to the entire Best Buy product catalog. They’ll even throw in weekly newsletters and special announcements highlighting special products, promotions and services.

Justice

If there’s one segment you really want to reach during the back-to-school shopping season, it’s “tween” girls. Justice is an apparel and accessories retailer that does just that, selling products that are unique to the interests of this particular consumer segment. This program offers up to a seven percent commission payout, and Justice has teamed with the renowned Commission Junction affiliate network to offer publishers third-party tracking, real-time reporting and monthly commission checks.

Barnes & Noble

Okay, so this one may not be as immediately obvious as the others, but if you’ve ever had to buy college text books from a university bookstore, you’ll know why looking for the best book deals online is about the smartest decision you can make. Target these eager (and often broke) young scholars by partnering with one of the world’s premier book retailers. Barnes & Noble gives affiliates a variety of marketing tools, including a datafeed and API, provides personal account support and pays out as much as a six percent commission on their books, music, movies, electronics and NOOK products. And, of course, the company is sure to offer a slew of enticing back-to-school textbook promotions.

E-Commerce Summer School

Linc Wonham — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:00:00 GMT

Most students won't see the inside of another classroom until the end of the month, if not later. But for online retailers, there are just a few days left before the peak of the back-to-school shopping rush is upon us.

That’s why WM felt that a crash course in the latest data and expectations for the 2011 season was necessary, helping merchants better target their audiences, price their products and fine-tune their promotions. Dozens of research firms and countless marketing analysts have been working hard to paint an accurate picture of what retailers can expect this year, and below we have shared the most valuable points of data from numerous comprehensive studies.

What to expect
This year’s consumers are still very budget-minded, as they have been the past four years, and a survey by the National Retail Federation reveals that shoppers will likely hold back on their spending on school supplies in 2011.

The study indicates a decrease of 0.5 percent in overall spending from 2010 – meaning that most families are expected to spend a little more than $600 on back-to-school supplies this year. Other studies have that number closer to $800, and one as low as $300, but the total spending is expected to surpass $68 billion – so the opportunity is there.

Online spending is expected to overtake brick-and-mortar spending this year, however, partly because of higher gas prices and the propensity for bargains on the Web. So get your promotions out now, and offer customers increased benefits for shopping online, i.e. coupons and discounts as well as free shipping and loyalty rewards.

When to act
Right now, if not yesterday. Thirty-five percent of respondents from the NPD Group’s annual back-to-school spending report are starting their shopping on August 1 – today – or have already begun. Sixty percent will begin their shopping before September 1, and a scant 5 percent will begin after September 1.

So, offer time-sensitive deals to every group – the early birds, the later shoppers and the procrastinators. Nothing makes consumers feel better than getting a great deal for having beaten the rush or having gotten in just in the nick of time.

Who to target
Every retailer knows that moms are the primary back-to-school shoppers, but a recent study has concluded that men will spend more than women on school supplies in 2011. The reason is two-fold, and it comes with a footnote for retailers.

Traditionally, men buy more technology items than women, which accounts for a high percentage of back-to-school spending. However, e-tailers should also know that women do more than 60 percent of the online searching for back-to-school items – excepting the computer and electronics category – and then send their spouses out to do a lot of the brick-and-mortar shopping. So, don’t forget to include dads as well as moms when targeting your back-to-school audience.

As for age demographics, the 35-49 group is more focused on clothing and apparel while the categories most popular with people under 25 are text books and college dorm room-related furnishings.

What you can do
According to the NPD survey, school supplies (77 percent) were the runaway winner over apparel (58 percent) and footwear (45 percent) for what this year’s shoppers will be purchasing. Following those were school bags (30 percent), electronics (27 percent), accessories (17 percent), beauty products (13 percent), bedding (10 percent), calculators (8 percent) and small appliances (5 percent).

More data from that survey tells us that 2011 back-to-school shoppers place value (82 percent) higher than anything else on their list, including if the item is required (45 percent), needs to be replaced (30 percent), if their child just wanted it (22 percent) or if it was just plain trendy (12 percent).

With August 1 the official start to the back-to-school season, here are a few more quick things to consider to make sure your Web business thrives during this peak time. Expand your keyword list to include every back-to-school product in your inventory and be sure to create relavent promotions and new advertisements specific to this fast-approaching season.

The Head of the Back-to-School Class

Linc Wonham — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:20:00 GMT

The calendar is winding down on the multitude of back-to-school promotions, but the Labor Day weekend and following week historically generate some of the year’s best sales for merchants dealing in fashion, electronics and other school-related supplies. We did a little homework of our own and discovered that the following retailers are still in mid-season form, making them strong candidates for a timely, end-of-summer affiliate connection.

Payless
The discount footwear provider is offering back-to-school sales on numerous well-known brands and designer labels for boys, girls and students of any age. Payless is currently offering a buy one, get half off on everything deal that includes $5.95 flat fee shipping. The free affiliate program is managed through Commission Junction, and new partners can participate in sales programs as well as non-sales programs, earning either a percentage commission from sales events or a fixed dollar amount from non-sales events.

Marshalls
If the more than a quarter million fans on Marshall’s back-to-school Facebook page are any indication, this is an ideal time to partner with the deal-friendly fashion retailer. Sales of up to 60 percent off of designer and brand names are taking place every day of the year at Marshall’s, so it ranks high on the list of destinations for savvy September shoppers. Marshall’s affiliate partners can register through the TJX Companies, Inc.

Best Buy
Whether it’s the latest in laptops, PCs, printers, tablet computers, software or games, Best Buy always has some of the best bargains for students. The leading consumer electronics retailer provides its affiliates with a library of text links, weekly banner ads, widgets and an open API for the company’s product catalog. Partners also receive weekly newsletters and special announcements to help them take advantage of Best Buy’s ongoing promotions and services.

Staples
The back-to-school savings at Staples are both legendary and heavily promoted, and affiliates who join the program now will surely reap the benefits year-round. From notebooks, pencils and pens to file cabinets, desks and entire home offices, the retail giant covers all of a student’s needs with more than 45,000 products. Partners are paid for every purchase made through their sites and Staples takes care of all the details, including processing, shipping and tracking.

OneWayFurniture.com
Students who are leaving home this fall can buy furniture direct from the manufacturers through this online retailer, who then arranges for direct “one way” shipping to campuses all over the U.S. Customers can find deals of between 30 and 70 percent off on couches, beds, desks and other suitable dorm or apartment fare without having to work through a middle man. Affiliate partners earn 6 percent commissions on everything sold, and One Way offers a 90-day cookie and a $10 Cash Activation Bonus paid at the end of the month.

GiftBaskets.com
Also with the college student in mind, this Hayneedle-owned site is the leader in creative gift baskets for any occasion, including an array of clever back-to-school themed care packages. Economically priced and generously stuffed, these baskets and their many accessories earn up to 8 percent commissions for affiliate partners on every order, no matter how large or small. Affiliates receive payments each month via check, direct deposit or PayPal.

Back-to-School Shoppers Not Holding Back This Year

Linc Wonham — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:25:00 GMT

There was encouraging news this week for e-commerce merchants anticipating a slower than usual back-to-school season due to continued economic uncertainty. A survey released from Burst Media reveals that the majority of consumers do not plan on cutting back from their spending this year, and that nearly half said they will use the Internet for their back-to-school shopping.

Burst polled nearly 2,000 consumers who identified themselves as parents or guardians of school-aged children, and 54.4 percent said that they planned to spend at least the same amount or more on clothing and supplies than they did last season. Two-thirds of respondents (65.9%) said they have not done their back-to-school shopping yet, and 48.9 percent plan to do at least some of their shopping online. A whopping 79.3 percent responded that online coupons or back-to-school promotions could influence their purchasing decisions.

Those shopping for college-aged students will be the biggest spenders this year, with 26.2 percent saying they would spend $500 or more.