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INCREASE SALES THROUGH THE POWER OF AFFILIATE

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Table of Contents

p.3 Affiliate Marketing Performance

p.4 Rakuten Affiliate Network

p.6 Our Clients

p.7 The Rakuten Affiliate difference

p.8 Success Stories

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AFFILIATE MARKETING PERFORMANCEThe Industry to Date

Affiliate marketing has come on leaps and bounds since its arrival in the early 1990’s. From a lonely link on a page that fought its way to get noticed, to today’s popular shopping hubs, voucher code sites and loyalty programmes; affiliate marketing continues to see innovation, complexity and opportunity for online retailers.

The Stats

An Online Performance Marketing study conducted for the Internet Advertising Bureau highlighted that in 2014, consumers made 125 million purchases through publisher sites- totalling £15.4 billion. This resulted in a return of £15 for every £1 invested by advertisers (6% growth year on year). A subsequent YouGov study revealed that cashback sites are currently the most frequently used publisher model, and around two-thirds (67%) of people who’ve used them do so at least once a month.

The Modern Shopper

Today’s savvy consumer spends more time browsing the web for the best deals and promotions from their favourite retailers, and voucher, loyalty and cashback sites are becoming an increasingly popular way to find them.In light of this, affiliate marketing presents an extremely cost-effective way of reaching new customers, increasing brand awareness, and driving incremental revenue for online retailers.

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RAKUTEN AFFILIATE NETWORKWho We Are

Founded in 1996, Rakuten Affiliate Network (previously known as LinkShare) is a global affiliate network facilitating long-term, profitable partnerships between advertisers and publishers. The UK network alone has over 350 advertisers and 350,000+ registered publishers, and sees double digit growth year on year.

International Reach

We have dedicated affiliate networks in the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Australia and Brazil, with localised language capabilities and currency support in each market.

Brands looking to expand on an international level can utilise our local teams, who will recommend top publishers in the region. These partners will act as your brand ambassadors in the market, to trigger awareness and increase sales.

Leaders in Fashion and Luxury

Rakuten Affiliate Network boasts the largest advertiser portfolio of luxury and high end fashion brands in the UK (91% of total market share). Our happy clients include Harvey Nichols, NET-A-PORTER, House of Fraser, REISS and Whistles. Brands like these choose Rakuten Affiliate Network for our in depth understanding of the fashion and luxury space, and the extensive range of content and blogger publishers available on the network.

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““Rakuten Affiliate Network has a fantastic understanding of the fashion and luxury space. Our partnership has resulted in impressive year-on-year growth, and we are

excited to further develop our relationship on an international scale.

Natasha Lawley,Performance Marketing Manager

Farfetch

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OUR CLIENTS

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The Rakuten Affiliate difference

Transparency - Omnichannel Measurement and Attribution

We believe that advertisers shouldn’t have to pay for transparency into their marketing investments. Cadence Essential, our omnichannel measurement and attribution platform, empowers marketers with cross-channel, actionable insights on all marketing performance to help you understand which publishers are truly adding value and contributing to your ROI. Implemented in just 30 days, all Rakuten Affiliate advertisers have access to Cadence Essential at no additional charge.

Strategy - Superior Customer Service

Our team-based approach to account management is crucial to the success of every single programme. Each account manager is supported by our publisher development team, analyst team, strategic account directors and marketing department.

Reach - Quality Publishers

Unlike other affiliate networks, we have a high volume of quality content publishers and bloggers on our platform, particularly in the fashion, luxury and beauty verticals.

Publishers like these are particularly popular with our advertisers for their personal recommendation-style approach to advertising.

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SUCCESS STORIES

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Overview

The Dune Group has over 20 years of experience in the footwear industry and has grown through a passion and dedication to excellence in product development and in-house design.

Online Marketing Objectives

• Increase online sales• Raise brand awareness through online promotions• Test new markets without tapping into additional budget

Strategy

• Partnered with Rakuten Affiliate Network for its expertise in the fashion sector• Developed relationships with cashback and loyalty sites such as

Top Cashback and Incentive Networks by offering commission increases and providing assets for good performers

• Opened further affiliate programmes through Rakuten Affiliate’s US, French and German networks

Results

When comparing affiliate performance in 2014 with 2013, Dune saw an increase in:• Site visits by 150%• Revenue by 97%

Dune London

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Overview

UNIQLO is a leading Japanese designer, manufacturer and retailer of casual wear. The company operates in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, Malaysia, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Indonesia.

UNIQLO

Online Marketing Objectives

• Raise online profile and extend customer base around the United Kingdom

• Establish growth through a combination of partnerships with key fashion content sites, bloggers and “super publishers” to boost the strength of the brand online

Strategy

• Utilised affiliate marketing as part of a wider online strategy, and partnered with a long-standing affiliate network

• Developed partnerships with top performing fashion sites and volume partners by offering exclusive commission rates and access to bestselling products with tagged deep links

• Developed relationship with bloggers by offering samples from key collections

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Results

UNIQLO has engaged with a variety of innovative publishers, resulting in an extremely successful affiliate marketing programme for the Japanese brand.

Partnerships with cashback and loyalty sites (Quidco and Top Cashback) in particular have driven the most traffic and sales, whilst maintaining high AOV from the promotion of UNIQLO’s top collections such as the Djokovic range during Wimbledon.

• Sales have risen by 10% (year to date)• Q2 2015: 53% growth in sales and 49% increase

in orders (year on year)

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Overview

Farfetch is a global community of over 300 luxury fashion boutiques, offering an inspirational shopping experience to fashion-forward consumers.

Farfetch

Online Marketing Objectives

• Grow the affiliate channel by 61% year on year • Expand brand awareness and reach in global markets• Increase global performance of blogger partners

Strategy

• Leverage Rakuten Affiliate Network’s physical presence in multiple regions: opened programmes in the UK, US, Australia and Japan: ◦ Core global account team in the UK- manages coordination and distribution of all affiliate

communications ◦ Global publisher recruitment strategy: ensures each region focuses on the same publisher verticals

• Developed partnerships with long-tail publishers through a “re-activation campaign” (commission-increase incentives for lower-performing partners)

• Weekly blogger recruitment in all markets (dependant on social media following, branding and target demographics)

• Launched a blogger competition, with the chance to win a Farfetch gift card for those who met predefined sales targets

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Results

• 91% increase of the global affiliate programme (year on year)

• 349% growth in UK blogger performance (year on year)

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Overview

Mountain Warehouse has been developing high quality outdoor gear for all the family since 1997. By working through an established affiliate network, Mountain Warehouse wanted to build strong partnerships with top voucher publishers like VoucherCodes.co.uk, in order to acquire new customers and boost their online revenue.

Mountain Warehouse

Strategy

• Partnered with VoucherCodes.co.uk to run an exclusive 2 week offer

• Customers were offered 20% off all products on the Mountain Warehouse website

• Unique discount code used at the checkout

Results

• 512% increase in sales through the Rakuten Affiliate Network

• £30,000 revenue boost

These figures were a direct result of the exclusive offer with VoucherCodes.co.uk.

Online Marketing Objectives

• New customer acquisition• Existing customer retention• Boost in sales through the affiliate channel

About us

Rakuten Affiliate Network is part of Rakuten Marketing, the global leader in omnichannel marketing and a division of Rakuten. Inc.

Want to know more?

Get in touch with Rakuten Affiliate Network atrm-salesuk@mail.rakuten.com

Let’s connect on Twitter @RakutenMKTG_UK rakutenmarketing.co.uk