This holiday season I can't help but see Rakuten commercials, and I suspect you have as well.
Rakuten was formerly Ebates.com. When you purchase an item through them (at thousands of online stores), they give you cash back on your purchase. The business model is relatively simple: Stores give commissions for sales, and Rakuten shares their commission with you. This person earned about 5% back on his couple thousand in purchases this season.
Affiliate marketing is a partnership, because affiliates work to sell your products for you. Sure, a Rakuten user could go directly to Target and buy, and Target would make more money that way. However, affiliates like this one have critical mass, and is (as we see this Holiday Season on our TV screens) spending their marketing money (on your products). As well, their members are hyper-engaged users who buy online, and have very good lifetime value. Despite giving up a bunch (sometimes the majority) of margin, the system seems to work.
If this sounds familiar to us, it's because it is. It's the ADW model in horse racing.
What's different is the response. Target is not withholding their products from Rakuten like a Sword of Damoclese signal deal. Target executives are not calling Ebates "pirates". We don't read articles on the Paulickshoppingreport saying Ebates has killed online purchasing and should be shut down.
There was a conversation this week on the twitter where a bunch of pretty sharp folks were talking about online wagering, mobile, horse racing wagering advertising, and assorted issues. There was a lament that racing has really missed the boat in the last fifteen years or so.
When we think about it - if you've long ago decided that someone selling your product for you is a pirate, how could it have turned out any other way?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most Trafficked, Last 12 Months
-
This was originally printed in Trot Magazine's Horseplayer Issue. The pick 5 is a racing staple with almost every track trying to take...
-
I received a hot text on my Blackberry from Cub Reporter late last night. Cub said, "The racing braintrust was reading twitter last ni...
-
Our wagering game is an incredible mental exercise for many reasons. And one of its characteristics I like best is the variety of thought wh...
-
Everyone saw "the ride" , everyone commented on "the ride", everyone waited to see what was up with "the ride"...
-
I continue to be fascinated with both the press and general football fan reaction to the Bill Belichick 4th down decision in Sunday's ga...
-
So, I did a little reading on the railway rebate system. No, stop laughing, I really did. And it was a pretty interesting exercise. For tho...
-
I've been thinking about wagering, handicapping and gambling content this week. The topic has been front and center with Nico's grea...
-
Several years ago the Denver Broncos were reeling. Their HOF quarterback was still hurting, had lost his fastball, and at halftime in week 1...
Similar
Carryovers Provide Big Reach and an Immediate Return
Sinking marketing money directly into the horseplayer by seeding pools is effective, in both theory and practice In Ontario and elsewher...
No comments:
Post a Comment