Tesco vouchers

[renegade]

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That's really the rub right there isn't it?

Spot on. Like befuddle I've been considering creating a non-affiliate site to publish codes which cannot be published on affiliate sites.

For me the issue is twofold, the first is not everyone plays by rules imposed by merchant T&Cs (I generally do but like Barry reserve the right to whinge about it - and try to perseude merchants to work with code sites) and second we're trying to provide a service to our visitors and that means when we know codes exist and we can't promote them it makes the site look useless.

Now this could be a deliberate move by some merchants to try and damage code sites but it's more likely to be merchants flailing around to stem the use of codes they've widely published in the first place.

To get an idea of where I'd like to end up look at the US code sites. They seem to be able to work with merchants and the US networks seem to have this under control.

There is room for merchants, affiliates and customers to all be happy it just needs education - and again the networks have to take the lead (I've helped a couple of networks put our case to merchants already).

What I hate are the knee jerk remove code emails with no opportunity to talk things through with the merchants.

Top marks to Boysstuff for todays email instructing affiliates to remove unofficial codes but offering a code for affiliate use - nice one.

[drivetowin]

Joe - I agree 100%

[Barry]

Yep agreed too, was just going to add Boystuff to my list of banned discount codes list as they have enforced a ban. However it is nice for them to allow something competative within the affiliate channel.

[Mogga]

Moneysavingexpert would fall outside of this as the voucher codes displayed are outside of an affiliate program on the forum and are generally posted by forum members.

If they made no money from affiliate progams then I'd agree.
Do they use NO other programs that are on the same network as tesco?

[tescovouchers]

Good summary renegade.

To get an idea of where I'd like to end up look at the US code sites. They seem to be able to work with merchants and the US networks seem to have this under control.

There is room for merchants, affiliates and customers to all be happy it just needs education - and again the networks have to take the lead (I've helped a couple of networks put our case to merchants already).

Exactly. A quick look at the US will show almost zero issues with codes (none that I know of I'm just hedging with the "almost") and merchants more than happy to get out there pro-actively pushing codes through the affiliate channel. The reason? Well I'd like to think because they see the value of the channel and that they understand they need to work WITH the nature of the internet instead of against. Like I've said multiple times in this thread it is a useless exercise to try and "erase" general use codes from the web. Targetting affiliates may be the easy thing to do but it's not going to ultimately achieve anything.

Second, yes the networks have to take the lead here. Obviously there is little respect towards code publishers from the big merchants and little recognition of the role they play. The networks need to be in there finding out why merchants are making these decisions and then addressing the ROOT of the problem.

One would think that merchants and networks would look over to the US and notice the massive revenues being driven by code sites and think hmmmm do we really want to lose control of this channel. Because that's straight where it's headed right now. Once all the revenue generating aff links are banned code publishers will use cpm's to drive revenue and leave the aff networks high and dry. CPM networks will be more than happy to say hello.

Top marks to Boysstuff for todays email instructing affiliates to remove unofficial codes but offering a code for affiliate use - nice one.

Thankfully a merchant that gets it. I wonder if it was the merchant's idea or networks...I'm betting on merchant...

[tescovouchers]

That being, Tesco have made a marketing decision and we'd ask that if you are an affiliate of Tesco.com through buy.at that you respect their decision and remove all voucher codes in the requested period.

Not to beat a dead horse but do you have any information on when Tesco are going to fix the technical issue which is the root problem here (allowing accounts which haven't been allocated a voucher code to use it) and/or when they will be allocating equivalent value voucher codes to the affiliate channel.

If they are not going to do either have they given buy.at a reason why not?

I understand buy.at are probably not going to push too hard in fear of losing the account to Tradedoubler but at the same time I think Tesco should be called up on the issue and asked to provide a pro-active way forward for code publishers and community sites.

[Frostie]

I notice a few people pose the same question, but as far as I can see in this thread, it has not yet been answered.

My understanding is that Tesco do not want affilates promoting codes, or people going via affiliate links and using codes due to marketing budgets, profit margins etc (although £1.1bn profit in 6mths isn't bad going!). The emphasis here has to be AFFILIATE.

So, if I were to continue to publish the discount codes and manually remove myself from the Tesco affiliate program, how would this be seen? I am working within the agreed boundaries in that I would not be a Tesco affiliate so therefore they would not be paying me any commissions for traffic I sent them. As far as I can see I would not be breaking any network T&Cs either

So what are your thoughts (affiliates, merchants and networks)... Is it acceptable for an active affiliate of a network to remove himself from a particular merchant in order to leave codes in place but linking directly to the merchants website?

[max99]

personally I think thats fine, can't see any problems as long as you dont advertise tesco on any other aff sites which may cause tesco to think its from you site showing codes.

Plus they cant chuck you off the program as you wont actually be advertising them . Will be interesting to see what others think tho.

[Hero]

Chris, I don't think the operative word is "affiliate" for the merchant, it could very well be "any website promoting codes that haven't been specifically given to them". So, even if you sent them traffic for free, the fact that that traffic is using a code not anticipated will still be a frustration. You may not be part of their affiliate program to chuck you out from, but they still have every right to contact you and ask you not to be promoting them any more - it's their prerogative to decide who advertises them and how.

I don't know if this is the case here, but I've come across it one time too many; merchants use voucher codes to measure success for their various advertising channels. A very old fashion marketing & measuring way, but still present nonetheless. If other channels than the designated ones use them, it all gets messed up and the merchant doesn't know what works where and how.

Obviously, the solution to that would be to create unique codes for their affiliates and measure those, which would also be seen as reaching out to the community in an effort to work effectively with them etc etc. In that sense, it would be interesting if the merchant shared here the reasons that lead them to that desicion for all to understand (it's easier to comply if you know the reasons behind a decision, isn't it).

Of course, they might want to be considered as a "full price" merchant (another thing you come across often) - I doubt it considering Tesco's branding approach.

Or, it could simply be that discount+commission+override+monthly fee = order acquisition cost higher than target and something's got to go. It's not margins that define what is affordable, but the cost of acquiring new customers/orders and profitability.

In any case, although I can see the problem it creates for a lot of affiliates and how it has been important that you guys listed such a name in your sites (which raises the question: would there be the same reaction if it was an unknown brand?), the matter of fact is the merchant took a marketing decision (we don't know the reasons for the decision, but we have to respect the decision). It could be the wrong decision. But it's their decision. Drop them an email and explain all the reasons why you believe they are wrong but move on. If Tesco decide to pull their affiliate program altogether, what would you do? Condemn them to eternal hell? It would be another marketing decision which we would have to accept and move on.

sorry for posting in buy.at's forum, but I think this is a wider issue, not network specific.

[renegade]

So, if I were to continue to publish the discount codes and manually remove myself from the Tesco affiliate program, how would this be seen? I am working within the agreed boundaries in that I would not be a Tesco affiliate so therefore they would not be paying me any commissions for traffic I sent them. As far as I can see I would not be breaking any network T&Cs either

While it might be seen as pushing your luck (and jeopardising your relationship with the networks)I believe there's no legal reason you can't do exactly that. For example one of our sites was declined by Tesco way back so I have no relationship with them so that website has nothing to do with Tesco.

So what are your thoughts (affiliates, merchants and networks)... Is it acceptable for an active affiliate of a network to remove himself from a particular merchant in order to leave codes in place but linking directly to the merchants website?

With the current aggro between a few merchants and code sites and our desire to offer a complete service for our visitors it's going to happen and one of the reasons several of us have considered building affiliate free code sites - or even dummy /real forums.
The bottom line is the codes are all over the place and the ONLY people who can't publish them are us - the so called merchant "partners" and it shows once again we always get any blame being handed out.
I will always try to work constructively with merchants but if they back us into a corner to the point where we can't run useful sites it's likely to get messy.

[befuddle]

Here's an issue, which I'll demonstrate with screen grabs later for a blog post.

I've a visitor to my site at 8:15 this morning searching for "promotional tesco wine codes". My site Shop Codes returns as the number one result in Google. This is despite no Tesco codes listed.

That user then stays on my site for 9 minutes 19 seconds looking through my voucher code pages and using my search looking for the Tesco Codes they assumed would be present.

I have a domain called Shop Codes so that user is thinking there must be some Tesco codes here somewhere.

Nine minutes is a long time to have someone's interest. That visitor left and may not return to my site again.

[loquax]

I sometimes wonder if as affiliates we're just lacking in the creativity department?

"I'm sorry, but due to circumstance beyond our control and because of direct intervention from Tesco, we are unable to offer you discount codes for their online site. However we do have the following:

Wine Codes...
Electricals...
DVDs...

Why not also join our newsletter - we'll inform you of the latest discounts, plus news if the situation with Tesco Discount Codes changes in the near future"

You can all send me the usual consultancy fee

Affiliate marketing is about WHO you can work with, if you can't work with a merchant move on, tell the truth to the consumer and pre-sell a merchant you CAN work with in order to guide the sale.

Jason