ASDA merges affiliate marketing activity

The decision follows a review period where buy.at was tested alongside ASDA’s incumbent network. 

The affiliate marketing activity aims to increase sales at www.asda.co.uk while increasing economies of scale.  It spans a range of ASDA’s vertical sectors including electricals, books and DVDs and mobile telephones as well as groceries. 

Sales will be tracked and analysed through buy.at’s management area with variable commissions paid to the affiliates for each sale.   

Chris Dalrymple, Online Marketing Manager at ASDA, said: “We wanted to review activity and test another network before consolidating onto just one affiliate network.  We have been impressed by buy.at’s proactive account management and innovative technology which integrates well and extends our reach to new affiliates which delivered an increase in incremental sales during the test period.  They have excellent relationships across a range of sectors and we plan to increase the programme to include more verticals such as ASDA travel.”

Kevin Cornils, CEO of buy.at, said: “ASDA is renowned for offering good value so affiliates will be able to drive a volume of traffic and sales.  The supermarket has been receptive to new ideas such as our social networking application, twinning verticals, brand generic PPC affiliates and consumer voucher codes.  We aim to increase communication between ASDA and affiliates and keep them informed of promotional activity and other marketing initiatives that will increase demand.”

buy.at will manage a combination of PPC and SEO affiliates, comparison, community and affinity sites to increase sales for ASDA.  

Content affiliates can use buy.at’s ContentEngine technology to ensure their sites are kept up-to-date with all the latest offers from ASDA using a product feed. 

buy.at’s HeadlineOffers can be used to promote the top offers from ASDA including sales items and seasonal products, as well as buy.at’s social networking application, currently live on WAYN, which enables consumers to create customisable webshops featuring products from ASDA.  

 These widgets use JavaScript, XML and server side languages such as PHP to deliver a dynamic feed of creative into content units on affiliate sites.   

All the activity will be tracked and analysed using buy.at’s management area which shows overall activity as well as detail such as sales per region, per affiliate or per product.  buy.at will manage and develop affiliates on the programme to keep them informed about the products and offers, ensure they adhere to ASDA’s brand guidelines and support them in driving more sales. 

The affiliates can monitor specific KPIs, such as Earnings-Per-Click, using buy.at’s desktop widgets and campaign analytics. 

ASDA is currently running a marketing campaign, with its price leadership position endorsed by independent web-based price checker www.mysupermarket.co.uk, and industry trade magazine The Grocer.  Last year, it was voted Britain's Lowest Price Supermarket for the tenth year running.

The news follows research from E-consultancy, sponsored by buy.at, which revealed that 71 per cent of retailers plan to increase investment in affiliate marketing over next two years and 95 per cent of retailers said they consider affiliate marketing to be ‘very’ or ‘quite’ cost effective. 

The research showed that retail companies spend an average of 19 per cent of their online budget on affiliate marketing, which is one per cent above the average of 18 per cent across all industries.   

Full copies of the report are available from buy.at or to-consultancy subscribers, or on a pay-per-view basis, at

http://www.e-consultancy.com/publications/affiliate-marketing-merchants-report-2007/