With more than 125 new affiliate partners gained through an affiliate program designed for small retailers, Boltz Furniture expects to do 20% of its sales through affiliates by year-end, CEO Jeff White tells InternetRetailer.com.
Boltz, which sells steel-fabricated furniture and accessories on the web at Boltz.com, in April started using the new AffiliateDirect program from DoubleClick Performics, an affiliate marketing unit of DoubleClick Inc. After taking about a week or two to prepare its pages to link to the AffiliateDirect network, Boltz started to see monthly increases in affiliate sales, White says.
“Every month our revenue through affiliates grows nicely, and by the end of the year I expect affiliates to account for about 20% of total volume,” he says. Boltz, which makes its own furniture, expects to do about $2.5 million in sales this year and to grow 10-15% this year and 20% next year, he adds.
The AffiliateDirect program connects marketers to the same network of affiliates available to full-service clients of DoubleClick Performics, which e-mails to network affiliates information about available retail products from AffiliateDirect clients. Affiliates can choose from among multiple icons, including product images and retailer logos, to place on their sites to direct traffic to the retailer.
Although AffiliateDirect clients don’t get dedicated account managers who help them build their affiliate connections, they can log into the DoubleClick Performics network to check how their images are displayed on affiliate sites and view data on products sales received through each affiliate partner.
The program has worked without glitches so far at Conway, AR-based Boltz, Wolfe says.
“This took a little work for us to get set up, but it has worked well from day one,” he says. “In Internet marketing, it’s almost unheard of to have something this easy.”
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