Comet commission decrease

[pericom]

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3% -> 2.5%

Dont think Ill bother with them when you factor in the reversals.

[Jeff]

Comet need to be careful if they want to continue as the number one electrical merchant.

In the past they've had bonuses that increase the base commission rate, but it looks like they've decided to end that and reduce the base rate at the same time.

Despite all their reversals they're still by far my best electrical merchant, and that will still be the case when the commission is reduced. But I'll be watching Currys closely and if their conversion rate climbs to even half that of Comet it'll be worth changing my links - and Comet will only have themselves to blame.

[Fraser]

not too happy about this either

[stevectaylor]

These went down hill fast when they moved network in my opinion.

[drivetowin]

Just received the following via CJ email

Dear Affiliate,

You will note that you have been offered a new program term today with lower commissions than our standard rates. We have had to do this due to lower product margins throughout the January sale period. We will however be reviewing this in February.

Thanks & kind regards,

Comet Affiliate Team

[stevectaylor]

So to subsidise their promotions, we have to have a sale too!! I dont thinh so..

[Rich]

We have had to do this due to lower product margins throughout the January sale period

I thought the TV ads said that Comet don't do sales!! hmm.

[Qui Gon Jinn]

I can see their point with lower margins, but I expect there will be exciting program developments in the new year.

[richardc]

A reduction out of the blue just like this is not acceptable. If a merchant publishers a particular commisison rate then the only way the rate should be altered is in an upwards direction based on performance.

It is unfair to have affiliates place links all over their web sites based on a rate of x% when in the future they send out an email during the holiday period to say the rate will be x-y % during their January sale.

No other merchant has done this and quite frankly this is unprofessional.

[Luke]

I have earn loads from Home Electrical now - not from affiliate marketing but by placing prominent AdSense ads all over those pages.

The outcome? I earn 20p a click now instead of 5p from Comet, Dixons and 2p from the other rubbish merchants that have their freephone number all over the place in large flashing font.

So. Don't get angry - let these so called marketing professionals pay per click - take off their banners and put up adsense/espotting/mirago.

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Luke,

I don't know if you remember this being discussed at the Befree round table some moons ago with the big media owners one side and the affiliates the other.

A little off topic and not really related to the merchant described in this thread.

With many of the price comparison sites offering a better affiliate program on PPC when compared to the EPC of most merchants?

Moving towards hybrid schemes (combination of CPA & CPC) is a direction many merchants would need to offer in the deal structure if they want their program to be competitive against those merchants whom convert well.

Shouldn't there also be a greater link between the online and high street door, whereby the consumer can pay fully for the item online and choose to collect from the store, with the merchant paying full commission. This may help increase the CR a litttle. Like Argos's click and collect but a full commission?

[Luke]

QGJ,

I suppose part of the problem is that with CPA there is a less obvious pitch for the "no.1" slot on affiliate sites, while with CPC bids get higher and higher as people vie for no.1, 2 and 3 etc.

Just my opinion, but this is where an intelligent EPC system is good, because then merchants can see how they compare with competitors and increase their CPA % to compete, or as you say introduce a CPC/CPA combination like Euroffice/Office World to compete or do better.

I think as it becomes easier to promote espotting/adsense/kelkoo etc it is inevitable CPA will start to lose out, their seems a big gap in a lot of areas between the CPA earnings and CPC earnings achievable with the likes of adsense/kelkoo etc.

Before you say - ok well why don't you do this at AF - it's not up to me and if it was I would definitely introduce it, though I recognise that it would be a lot of work and our manpower is being currently used up with some other very interesting and important upgrades.

With my affiliate hat on I would like it if merchants were a little bit cleverer and realised their customer acquisition cost is not as simple as "profit minus affiliate programmes costs" for that month, sadly this means us affiliates are getting pittance usually for our traffic and are switching to other models when this is the case.

[ianm]

Originally posted by kbudden
We have had to do this due to lower product margins throughout the January sale period.

Just occured to me - I wonder if Comet's shop staff have to take a pay cut this month as well?