IAB to issue industry guides to stop the misuse of online voucher codes

Well the IAB have stepped up and through their Affiliate Marketing Council (AMC) they plan to issue industry guidelines for the use of online voucher codes in the run-up to Christmas to ensure they're not misused by affiliates.

To any affiliate manager or marketeer who manages affiliate programs like myself this is nothing new. I spend days every month checking sites and sending warnings to affiliates. For all my clients I have tight T&C's in place to ensure that any misuse is delbt with in the reversal of sales.

The AMC has identified practices by some voucher code sites that could damage brands' affiliate campaigns. These include registering the cookie that pays the affiliate with the retailer after the consumer has already made a decision to buy. Whilst registering a cookie does not damage a brand it does mean merchants are paying commission on sales needlessly. Where I see damage to the brand is more in the promotion of incorrect and out of date codes which can present to a consumer a very mixed view of the brand and therefore impacting on their brand value in the marketplace.

It's a good move for the IAB to work with networks to agree on guidelines but there is still a great deal of policing to be done which falls on consultants like myself to do for clients.

I think there does need to be a clamp down in voucher code abuse both dropping cookies and promoting codes not issued by affiliate managers. A simple solution is if there are a number of 'black marks' against an affiliate then the network can step in and get involved.

At the end of the day, affiliate managers if you have an affiliate abusing voucher codes and are in breech of your T&Cs then reverse sales against that affiliate. I would like to note there are an abundance of vouchersites and there are some affiliates who DO play by the rules, but i'm afraid there are also some who don't.

Online Spending Slowing...

Year-on-year growth in online spending for September slows to 14.8% but the colder weather is giving retailers a much needed boost as online shoppers spend on new winter fashions. Although online shopping continues to grow with consumers spending £4.8 billion online in September, this was the third consecutive month where year-on-year growth was below 20%.

Mail Goggles

Ever sent a message after a few glasses of wine that you wish you hadn't? Well Gmail have launched a new feature called Mail Goggles which may help. When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you're really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. The only problem is you need to be pretty good at maths! By default, Mail Goggles is only active late night on the weekend as that is the time you're most likely to need it. Once enabled, you can adjust when it's active in the General settings.

Amazon Slashes Delivery.

As reported on the IMRG website, Amazon has cut its free delivery brink from £15 to just £5 in an attempt to lift shopper confidence in the run up to Xmas . From today, buyers who spend over £5 on Amazon's site will not be charged for delivery. This indicates that over ninety percent of Amazon orders will be delivered at no cost. The last time the e-retailer reduced its delivery edge was in October 2005, from £19 to £15.

Retailers Be Calm

I have found myself on many retailer mailing lists, but the frequency of mails seems to be picking up as more and more retailers seem to be pushing harder for sales.

In 7 days I received 5 emails from online retailer www.oli.co.uk.
Fashion Flash, today.
20% off selected lines yesterday.
'Montage' a fashion editors report the day before the above
New in styles the day before the above
Coats and boots 2 days before the above

The economic climate is in troubled times, and sending more mails won't help. All the signs were there in 2005 for the current crisis so if you didn't plan ahead for the fortcoming downturn, stay calm. Keep your messaging simple, communicate offers at the top of mails and keen the frequency to an acceptable level. As a consumer there is nothing worse than being bombarded with messages of buy this and that when I just cannot afford to.

Congratulations Dr Pat Spungin

Raisingkids.co.uk is a parenting advice site Raisingkids.co.uk. I used to work with them when i worked for Disney and have delbt with them recently in my remit as a Marketing Consultant. It seems Disney have bought the site. The site will be added to the Disney Online portfolio, which also includes recently launched UKfamily.co.uk, a site for information and social networking. Rasingkids.co.uk claims to have over 142,000 unique users per month, and over 100,000 registered users. The site was founded by Child psychologist Dr Pat Spungin back in 2001. She said of the acquisition, "I'm very proud of what we've built, but to take Raisingkids.co.uk onto the next level requires resources that only a company like Disney can provide."

Congratulations!

Winners & Loosers

It's a mix bag in the world of internet retail and the general economy.

Governments in UK & US are bailing out Banks left right and centre. Consumers are seeking to shift there savings whereever they can in the worry that money may be lost. The housing market is down over 12% and i seeing the most dramatical falls on record. No more is the word reccession on the card but also depression.

As for retail well, M&S are down 6.1% last quarter. Tesco lowest recorded profits, but on a positive note they have seen a 21% shift from high street to online. ASOS is the second most visited clothing site in the UK after Next and offers over 18,000 fashion items. As at 28 September, the e-retailer had 1.83 million registered users and 890,000 active customers, up from 490,000 last year. The e-retailer said sales for the six months to 30 September increased by 104%.

So the slowdown is here, but like always there are some winners but mostly loosers!