A NASSCOM report revealed that India has become the most potential and fastest growing Startup ecosystem in the worldwide. India ranks third, with the USA and the UK acquiring the first and second positions respectively. With an excellent network of startups and the influence of affiliate marketing, the business trend is growing and evolving year after year.
When affiliates are concerned, India ranks #1. Many Indians simply started their affiliate networks and blogs to promote products. However, this has now become a phenomenon in the markets with quality leads and mobile advertising taking the lead.
Learn how affiliate marketing has grown in India:
- Growth of Affiliate Marketing in India – From the Merchants Viewpoint
- Growth of Affiliate Marketing in India and its Results
- How are Offline Business Affected by Affiliate Marketing?
- Affiliate Marketing Benefits Web Publishers
Growth of Affiliate Marketing in India – From the Merchants Viewpoint
At present, affiliates contribute to more than 15 percent of the total sales across online retail sites in India. This, indeed, is an incredibly significant number considering that retail e-commerce sales are likely to grow by leaps and bounds in 2017-18.
Affiliate marketing mostly infuses content marketing through various channels. It involves lower risks and pays only for pre-defined action, which makes affiliate marketing a hot favourite sales channel for startups in India.
Over time, several in-house affiliate programs have been designed by businesses, rather than hiring affiliate marketers from a third-party. It is beneficial in every way, especially for companies like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. All these online retail stores have their own affiliate program, and they pay up to 15 percent for a successful sale. Even startups like Bewakoof and Zepo have invested in their personal affiliate programs by using Third party Affiliate Tracking Software and hiring affiliate managers to track daily sale numbers and determine measures to increase the contribution of channels and increase revenue.
When you take a long-term perspective, this strategy has helped merchants to build a rapport with their affiliates. For startups, it is a worthy investment as affiliate channels assist them leverage on some of the best possible traffic, contributing to almost 20% of the total revenue.
Growth of Affiliate Marketing in India and its Results
For affiliates, websites like CupoNation and CouponDunia have become favourites for businesses. These are platforms for small scale businesses to create more brand awareness, display products and services, and facilitate customers to purchase. In addition, they also help established businesses to work towards a larger goal and market share, offering a better competitive advantage.
The online coupon industry is a major part of affiliate network today. In India, experts predict that this particular industry is pegged to evolve by up to 30% from its existing position by 2017.
So, if you are a startup online retailer or you have a small business, plan to invest in any of these websites and display your products and/or services.
How are Offline Business Affected by Affiliate Marketing?
With the latest technology available to businesses and end users, and the advanced tracking features, affiliate marketing is now the most frequently used strategy to promote online business. However, several offline merchants are enjoying the benefits of affiliate marketing at large. Websites like Pricebaba and CouponDunia provide pricing information to users and also help them to compare between local and online sellers. It’s that simple!
Use of exclusive coupon codes and codes sent to mobile phones has allowed promotional activities to improve and grow.
Affiliate Marketing Benefits Web Publishers
At present, affiliate marketing is largely dependent on web publishers. In India, bloggers publish their blogs on a particular niche to promote business. Indiblogger, for instance, is one of the largest blog networks in India, with 40000 registered bloggers.
Businesses and startups are now approaching bloggers as well as review sites to promote their business online. In the current scenario, people just don’t jump out to grab discounts; they research and look for high-quality products and services before investing. The majority of this kind of the investigation is done through informative blogs and review sites.
Final Thoughts
Affiliate marketing has matured in India. It is now considered as a serious and reliable sales channel for online retailers and e-commerce startups as well as established businesses. Over the years, experts believe that this trend is likely to improve with the use of smartphones for browsing and innovative tracking technologies coming up.
However, it is important to remember that affiliate marketing takes a lot of effort and time to build. It takes, even more, time to make a profit. It is, thus, required of businesses to be patient and persistent
