Even before the pandemic, almost half of millennials preferred shopping on Amazon to a year of active sex. Considering this fact, it would be sheer madness for advertisers to abandon a platform with such loyal users and place advertisements in an alternative affiliate program. However, day X has arrived! Amazon has cut commissions by almost two-thirds, which forced many advertisers to revise their participation in Amazon affiliate program.
Today we will tell you whether it is worth staying on board the ship “Amazon Affiliate Program ”. Or is it worth looking for an alternative?
What made the Amazon affiliate program so attractive?
- It is a mistake to think of Amazon as a big online store. Amazon is a giant technology platform with a wide range of opportunities for selling goods to people. That’s why Amazon is so good. It didn’t compete with other online stores, it invented its own game.
- Unlike Amazon, most online stores only deal with specific products selected through market analysis. They can not brag about a wide range of products due to storage costs and logistics
- Moreover, Amazon decided to learn the pricing from its customers. That allowed to offer not only the best prices for the most popular products, but also a cheap alternative to a number of products.
- Amazon is primarily about technology, not commerce. Trade is rather a side activity of the platform. Right now Amazon cloud operations are more profitable than commercial businesses.
- Marketers have partial access to Amazon’s tools. Information about popular products and the products which are frequently purchased together is available to them. You should agree, that such an advantage is a weighty argument in favor of the Amazon affiliate program.
- Amazon gives access to an army of regular customers, as well as to some an idea of what will work when an ad is launched.
- The plus is also countless range of products that you can advertise. No matter what niche you decide to go in. Amazon will cover almost any need for a marketer.
This is what makes the Amazon affiliate program so attractive to Affiliates!
Alternatives to the Amazon Affiliate Program in 2021!
Although Amazon has grown to a truly gigantic size, it is far from the only mecca of e-commerce. There are other platforms that may suit you better.
Check out the alternatives below!
ClickBank
ClickBank is well known among affiliates. Founded in 1998, it confidently grew and developed in order to become so popular.
The main advantage of ClickBank is the large number of offers. Mainly ClickBank specifies in digital offers, but it also has many physical products (lifestyle category). If you like dealing with digital products, ClickBank will be the best alternative!
ShareASale
Founded in 2000 and acquired by Awin in 2017, ShareASale offers more than 4500 offers from various categories. Offers are mainly physical. Сommissions on physical products are usually lower because production, storing and shipping of physical products requires money, as opposed to digital offers. However, it is more difficult for a potential consumer to assess the value of digital product. People are still less spending money on digital offers what increases the purchasing power of individuals products.
What offers does ShareASale have? Basically, these are offers of small, less well-known brands that offer a wide variety of products in all major categories. The upside is that you can find authentic and unique deals. The downside is that not all customers are willing to buy products from unknown brands.
With its low prices and abundance of products, ShareASale is one of the best Amazon affiliate alternatives.
Ebay Affiliate Network
The old man Ebay will give a head start even to Amazon. After all, from the moment of the first purchase, completed in 1995, it has changed and improved significantly.
The number of listings on ebay is 1.3 billion. As if every seventh person on this planet is selling something on ebay. Most of us think of Ebay as an auction platform. This is partly true, but there are many fixed price offers too. On Ebay, commissions work like this:
- When you post a link to a fixed price offer, the visitor who clicks on your link must complete the purchase within 24 hours. When this time expires, the tracking cookie dies, and even if sale appears you will not receive a commission.
- When you post a link to an auction, the visitor clicking on your link must bid on the product within 24 hours. When he does it, there will be 10 days (more than the average for the auction) to win the auction. Commission rates vary.
Remarkably! You can get 2x commission for every reactivated member (member who hasn’t made a purchase in the last 12 months).
Newbies are welcome here; Visitors do not need to be a member of a paid membership program (such as Amazon Prime) to take full advantage of the platform. And the minimum payouts are low. What more could you ask for?
CJ Affiliate
This affiliate network (formerly known as Commission Junction) is very similar to ShareASale, but more brand oriented. This has several consequences.
CJ Affiliate is more focused on larger players: it is easier for them to participate in affiliate programs of the network. Also a solid background is required. However, when the application is approved, the chance of success is extremely high. It will also be a plus for advertisers that CJ Affiliate can provide deep links (links leading to specific seller pages, not general product page).
AliExpress Affiliate Program
AliExpress is a Chinese marketing platform which offers more than 100 million products in almost any category. AliExpress works all over the world, so affiliates can advertise in all markets.
The main advantage for AliExpress customers is the price: the platform allows manufacturers to sell products directly, without intermediaries.
Consumers can find many lesser-known brands whose quality are similar to their branded competitors.
There is always an alternative.
Likewise with other internet giants like Facebook or Google, there are opportunities for life and business outside of the Amazon program. If you don’t like something, you can always change it.
And whichever program you choose, the advantage will be the ability to track its efficiency with PeerClick.
Affiliate Program Tracking
The entire affiliate marketing equation consists of several variables. Offer from alternative affiliate programs is just one of them.
The rest of the variables are quality traffic and a tracker that connects the remaining parts in the most efficient way.
Not every ClickBank or AliExpress offer will work with all traffic.
You will have to use the targeting parameters of the traffic source. And to know how to use them, you will definitely need a platform for data analysis.
For example, PeerClick.
PeerClick is already integrated with Amazon’s most famous alternative, ClickBank. This allows it to receive conversion data from ClickBank.
PeerClick can also be configured to work with the rest of Amazon alternatives. The tracker will collect data from traffic sources and data from affiliate programs and affiliate networks to better analyze your campaigns.
Working with PeerClick is much easier!
