Buy.at and Coull link video with affiliate marketing

The partnership marks Europe’s first use of interactive video advertising and affiliate marketing.  

The application is available for affiliates on the buy.at network, an Advertising.com Network Solution, provided through AOL’s digital advertising business, Platform-A.

The interactive video advertisements feature models wearing the latest big-brand clothing from the Group’s LittlewoodDirect.com site. 

Each item of clothing and accessory featured in the video has been assigned its own tag.  Customers can click through to a dedicated page for the product, and a further click will forward the customer to the product page on the LittlewoodsDirect.com site.  The activity is tracked to ensure affiliates are paid the correct commission for the activity they generate.

The Shop Direct Group has worked with buy.at since 2004 to increase sales for Littlewoods Direct.com, as well as their other brands: Additions Direct, Great Universal, Littlewoods and Marshall Ward. 

LittlewoodsDirect.com features 16,000 product lines from furniture, white goods and electronics to clothes for men, women and children.  Outfits from major brands such as Diesel, Morgan and French Connection are featured, as well as swimwear, lingerie, sportswear, bridal wear, shoes and new ranges from Trinny and Susannah.

“Shop Direct Group are always looking to innovate and find new ways of reaching our customers.  The development of this video platform with buy.at and Coull places Shop Direct Group at the forefront of affiliate marketing.  The ability to take the customer directly to a product page from a product video opens up new and exciting opportunities for us,” said Neal Preece, Ecommerce Director at Shop Direct Group.   “It’s a great tool for affiliates, which enables them to enhance their campaign promotions and drive even more sales with exciting, high-quality content.”

“buy.at is the first affiliate network in Europe to integrate this technology for the advertisers and affiliates on our network and Littlewoods is the first client to adopt it, “ said Brendan Condon, Managing Director of Platform-A International.  “Shop Direct Group is a forward-thinking retailer that innovates to maintain its market-leading position.  This interactive video tool will maximise the impact of the LittlewoodsDirect.com brand, engaging the customer online and driving more sales for their affiliate campaign.” 

Irfon Watkins, CEO at Coull, said: “Interactive video is a powerful tool for enhancing product placement and driving sales online and buy.at is innovating in the affiliate sector by offering it to its network of 9,000 affiliates.  Major brands are getting excited about the impact interactive video advertising will make to their online campaigns.”

buy.at will track click-throughs, sales and cost-per-acquisition commissions by integrating video tags with its tracking and campaign analytics. 

 If the LittlewoodsDirect.com video advertisement is copied from an affiliate’s site and pasted into another website or a customer’s social network profile, Coull’s technology ensure the tracking and reporting remain embedded. 

buy.at manages a combination of SEO and PPC affiliates, content site, comparison and loyalty site affiliates to increase sales for the Shop Direct Group. 

In January, Shop Direct Group consolidated all of its affiliate marketing accounts onto buy.at. 

Research commissioned by buy.at and conducted by E-consultancy into affiliate marketing in the retail sector, revealed that retailers spend 19 per cent of their online marketing budget on affiliate marketing and 71 per cent of them expect to increase investment in affiliate marketing over next two years.