1. Amazon vs. Walmart:
Affiliate Marketing Lessons
to Learn
Geno Prussakov
CEO, AM Navigator (affiliate management agency)
www.amnavigator.com
Founder, Affiliate Management Days (conference)
www.amdays.com
888-588-8866 | Washington, DC
geno@amnavigator.com | @ePrussakov
.
and

2. Comparing the Giants
(or Mind-Blowing Facts)

3. MONTHLY VISITORS:
80 MILLION PEOPLE

4. Mall of America

5. Disneyland

6. MONTHLY VISITORS:
80 MILLION PEOPLE
could fill:
24 Malls of America
and
60 Disneylands
Source: PCMag, “Infographic: Just How Big Is Amazon.com?”

7. WAREHOUSES:
70 MILLION SQ FEET

8. Madison Sq Garden

10. WAREHOUSES:
70 MILLION SQ FEET
that’s more than:
700 Madison Square Gardens
and
could hold more water than
10,000 Olympic Pools
Source: Business Insider, “10 Mind-Blowing Facts About Amazon.com”

11. PROJECTED 2015 REVENUE:
$100 BILLION
that's
$190,132 per minute
and
$15,844 every 5 sec
Source: Morgan Stanley’s Scott Devitt as quoted at ZDNet

12. 49 MIN OUTAGE (JAN 2013):
$3.2 mln+ LOST

13. AFFILIATE PROGRAM
Source: NAJobBank.com, 2008 job posting

14. AFFILIATE PROGRAM

15. AFFILIATE PROGRAM
Amazon.com Associates: The web's most
popular and successful Affiliate Program
Page Title Says It All:

17. Source: Deloitte.com

20. Out of all retailers, Wal-Mart
has the greatest capacity to
compete with Amazon online.
Geno’s opinion

21. Annual web sales in billion U.S. dollars. Source: Statista. Copyright © 2015
Top 10 U.S. e-Retailers in 2014

22. Interesting Facts (2014)
o Amazon owns every fourth dollar spent online
in the U.S. (and every third in Q4);
o For the first time in a decade, Wal-Mart's web
sales grew faster than Amazon's (30% vs 20%);
o Yet, in 2015 Amazon is on track for $100 billion
in revenue, predicted to eclipse Wal-Mart.

23. How Do They Run Their
Affiliate Programs?
…and what we can
learn from it

24. 1. Program Support Websites

25. Source: AffiliateBenchmarks 2013 Global Advertiser Research Report
Top Recruitment Methods (adv)

26. Source: AffStat 2014 Report by Affiliate Summit
Top Recruitment Methods (aff)

27. 1. Program Support Websites

28. 1. Program Support Websites

29. 2. Performance Incentives

30. It Does Pile Up…
Source: Darren Rowse, The Ultimate Guide to Making Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program,
ProBlogger.net, 4/24/2013

31. 3. Low Payment Threshold
If you select payment by direct deposit, we will
directly deposit the advertising fees you earn
into the bank account you designate, but may
accrue and withhold advertising fees until the
total amount due to you is at least $10.
Amazon.com Associates Program Operating Agreement

32. 4. Variety of Links
Text links  
Banners  
Product links (feed)  
Advanced creatives 
widgets

flex links
Video  
 Thousands of linking options
 Convenient categorization
(by product lines and types of promotions)
 Intuitive interface

33. Deep-Linking Capability

34. Deep-Linking Capability

35. 5. Ease of Integration
© 2015 Universal Studios

36. Key Elements:
o Resources
(to educate)
o Incentives
(to motivate)
o Tools
(to equip)
o Support
5. Ease of Integration

37. 6. Communication Channel

38. 6. Communication Channel

39. Affiliate Manager’s Responsibilities

40. 6. Communication Channel

41. 6. Communication Channel

42. Source: 2010 Affiliate Summit AffStat Report
Affiliate-Preferred Newsletter Frequency
6. Communication Channel

43. Most Desired Affiliate Types per AffiliateBenchmarks 2013 Global Advertiser Research Report
7. Empowering Bloggers

44. Source: Technorati Media 2013 Digital Influence Report
7. Empowering Bloggers

45. 7. Empowering Bloggers

46. Application Programming
Interface – a set of functions
and procedures that allow the
creation of applications which
access the features or data of
an operating system,
application, or other service.
Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English
8. Equipping Developers
via APIs

47. 8. Equipping Developers

48. 9. Attracting Mobile App
and Game Developers

49. 9. Attracting Mobile App
and Game Developers

50. 9. Attracting Mobile App
and Game Developers
As a mobile app developer, I’m very interested in
Amazon’s In-app-purchasing (IAP) and Mobile Associate
(MAP) program.
Most affiliate programs seem to focus on desktop
experiences... On mobile, most browsing time is spent inside
apps, and most users will try to avoid clicking on something
that will interrupt the in-app experience by opening up a
window in the mobile browser since it ‘breaks the flow’ of
navigation (even if it’s a web-view within the app).
An API such as Amazon’s IAP/MAP allows a
purchase to happen within the same context where it was
originated and allows mobile developers to create
purchasing experiences that are more pleasant for people
using apps to get ideas on what to buy.

51. Loyalty Affiliates
o Amazon.com: 17.6%
o Walmart.com: 13.5%
Affiliates Using Diverse Methods:
o Amazon.com: Q1 – 5.6%, Q2 – 4.1%,
Q3 – 6.09%, Q4 – 10.85%
o Walmart.com: consistent 2.3-2.9%
range throughout all quarters
Source: AM Navigator 2009 Affiliate Survey
10. Heavy Focus on CRO

52. 11. Fairness to “Closers”
If the customer clicks an add-to-cart link built with the
Enhanced Product Links tool, the Amazon cookie is
now set to 90 days (instead of 24 hrs for most
other inbound links). And unless the customer
removes the product from their cart, affiliate
commission is secure for 90 days.
Sometimes, a customer needs an extra day to
checkout. So not using direct the add-to-cart links
(vs. a more broad landing page) can hurt the
affiliate.

53. 12. Exclusive Contracts

54. You may NOT:
• employ, use or place any web browser
add-ons, toolbars or pop-ups on your
website;
• employ the use of any type of software
download or technology which attempts to
intercept or redirect traffic or Referral
Fees to or from any website;
• install spyware on another person’s
computer; cause spyware to be installed
on another person’s computer, or use a
context based triggering mechanism to
display an advertisement that partially or
wholly covers or obscures paid
advertising other content on a website in a
way that interferes with a person’s ability
to view that website;
13. Stance on Affiliate Adware
Source: https://affiliates.walmart.com/#!/terms

55. 14. Policies on TM-Centric URLs
Unsuitable sites include those that:
(g) include any trademark of Amazon or its affiliates, or a
variant or misspelling of a trademark of Amazon or its
affiliates, in any domain name, subdomain name, or in
any username, group name, or other identifier on any
social networking site
Amazon.com Associates Program Operating Agreement
You may NOT:
• use the Trademarks, or any variation or misspelling
thereof, in metatags, hidden text or source code, in your
domain name or any other part of your URL
Walmart.com Operating Agreement for Affiliate Network

56. Source: Darren Rowse, The Ultimate Guide to Making Money
with the Amazon Affiliate Program, ProBlogger.net, 4/24/2013
15. Holiday Marketing

57. 15. Holiday Marketing

58. 15. Holiday Marketing

59. 15. Holiday Marketing

60. 15. Holiday Marketing

61. To Recap…

62. Lessons to Learn
1. Maintain program support website
2. Motivate with performance incentives
3. Set low/reachable payment thresholds
4. Provide a wide variety of linking options
5. Make integration/activation easy
6. Support constant & consistent communication
7. Empower bloggers & content producers
8. Equip web developers and savvy affiliates
9. Attract mobile app and game developers
10. Focus on conversion rate optimization
11. Fairly compensate the real "closers"
12. Encourage exclusive relationships
13. Disallow affiliate adware
14. Prohibit TM-centric domains
15. Leverage holiday marketing

63. In Conclusion…