American Eagle Outfitters as a policy maintains tight control of its brand, wanted to drive incremental sales without increasing markdown, and wanted to acquire new online customers without having to leverage its stores in the effort. Responding to those challenges developed an affiliate program that meets those criteria and pulls in an online customer pool of which 40% are new to the brand, Laurie Barkman, marketing manager at Ae.com, told attendees at Internet Retailer's Annual Conference and Exhibition.
Ae.com is the online arm of American Eagle, which designs, markets and sells its own brand of youth-focused apparel in 1,000 retail stores in the United States and Canada. Ae.com is the retailer’s largest store and the number one marketing face of the company, Barkman says. Its affiliate program was launched along with a search engine marketing program in 2003 in a bid to expand its online presence.
“Our success has been driven by the structure of the program,” says Barkman. Ae.com’s program is outsourced, a time-and resource-saver for its small marketing staff. To maintain the brand control it wanted, the affiliate program is closed, with affiliates joining by invitation only. The program isn’t marketing to potential affiliates on Ae.com’s home page. AE approves every affiliate that’s added to the program, and affiliates must agree to specific terms and conditions, such as agreeing not to bid on search engines on AE trademarked material.
By design, the affiliate program remains small. Yet Barkman says the company is pleased with program returns. In addition to the 30% of customers that come to the site through affiliate links that are new to AE, affiliate program buyers show a strong conversion rate and show a low incidence of coupon use.
"Even if you’re outsourcing the affiliate program, stay involved,” Barkman advises other marketers. Other keys to program success for CE’s program have included establishing success metrics and monitoring for them, including affiliates in marketing plans and budget, and focusing the bulk of program attention on the 20% of affiliates that produce 80% of affiliate sales. Finally, when developing a program, “Talk to other retailers,” Barkman recommends.
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