Web grocer SimonDelivers.com launches new online affiliate program

SimonBucks, a new affiliate program on the site of Internet grocer SimonDelivers.com, launched to the public on Tuesday and by Thursday morning, it already had generated about $1,600 in sales for retail partners whose links are being hosted on the grocer’s site, director of marketing David Grandrud tells Internet Retailer.

The affiliate program hosts links to and offers from more than 100 retailers in a virtual mall accessible to customers through a link on SimonDelivers.com. For every purchase that results from a SimonDelivers customer clicking on one of the mall’s links, SimonDelivers keeps a percentage of the affiliate commission paid by the link sponsor, but deposits the rest automatically in the registered shopper’s account as “Simon Bucks.” Participating shoppers receive anywhere from 1% to 20% of the value of any purchase they make form the virtual mall. When they’ve accumulated at least $10 worth of SimonBucks, they’re redeemable toward the purchase of merchandise at SimonDelivers.com.

Shoppers who access the virtual mall open up a new browser that covers about 70% of the screen—but they never leave SimonDelivers.com, whose window and shopping cart always remains visible on the screen behind the other browser.

Though SimonDeliver.com’s own business and delivery area are presently only in the upper Midwest, centered around the Twin Cities, its customer base is big enough to attract retail brands including Macys.com, REI.com, Cooking.com Netflix.com and Dell.com to the new affiliate program. “We’ve got 30,000 customers on our web site who are buying groceries every month,” says Gandrud. “They’re web-savvy, comfortable with e-commerce, and they visit our web site on a frequent basis, so it was the perfect environment for this program. For us, it’s an opportunity to provide incremental value to our customers.”