Commission rates a joke...

[nnh]

Halfords 1% Wiggle 2% Think its prob best to stick to SELLING bike domain names then...!

 

[Paullas]

this is why you need to fully develop a website with unique content to get high up in the search engines to get the traffic to make the sales worth doing

by using a 3rd party store (or white label) with no unique content it isnt worth it - build the site and the traffic and sales will come, stick it on a 3rd party basic store and your wasting your time.

 

[accelerator]

I expect there would be other aff programmes for the products you want offering higher commission levels.

Rgds

 

[ratboy]

There is a price war going on between wiggle, evans and chain reaction. It's pushing prices down. Good news for cyclists. Really bad news for local bike shops and affiliates it seems.

Wiggle... 2% on bikes is OK...they raised it today... it used to be 1%.

 

[jasman]

It's a crappy business model. They're thinking about it from their perspective, not yours. They should settle for a lower margin, passing more over to the affiliate so affiliates are motivated to market the products. Then they'd have a whole army of webmasters actively pushing their products. 1% is a joke, an insult. I don't think companies like Halfords really understand using the Internet as a sales channel.

 

[scooter]

Great post.
Sadly, it's almost like a quango, they are all offering a pittance.

The first one to break the mould and offer a decent % should see a huge jump in traffic and hopefully sales as affiliates jump ship to join them.

But i would't hold my breath. I can't see it happening in the near future.

.

 

[Systreg]

Halfords pay 6% on everything, it's only 1.5% if the buyer chooses "reserve & collect" when they place their order, they then pay for the item in store when they collect it, otherwise, all other sales where their purchase is delivered to them is still paid at 6%.

Evans Cycles pay 5% on all sales including bikes and frames.

Wiggle used to pay 1% on bikes, 2% on frames and 5% on all other products, but as per Ratboy's post above, as of today, they are now paying 2% on all bikes and frames and 4% on all other products.

So, whilst there has been a drop to 4% for their other products, it's minimal, as sales for bike accessories are generally far less then sales of bikes and frames, but with them increasing the bike sales %, as those are the products that sell for the most, the commission is automatically doubled on any sale now, and any revenue gained will outweigh any revenue lost to to other 1% drop, so it's all good in my eyes.

 

[scooter]

I stand corrected.

But why only 1.5% for reserve and collect? It is still a sale they might otherwise not have had.

.

 

[Systreg]

@ Scooter, Halfords have been pushing the reserve & collect feature a lot recently, saying how much affiliates can benefit from it blah blah blah, yeah right. It's normally 1% for that, but they are giving an extra 0.5% because it's Christmas

To my way of thinking, the home delivery should be 1% and reserve & collect should be 6%, because Halfords save money by not having to make a delivery when a customer collects their purchase, so it's probably just a way for them to pay out less to affliates if a lot of people are collecting instead of having it delivered.

 

[Edwin]

Plus with reserve and collect, they have the chance of "accidental" sales as the customer wanders around the store waiting for the sales team to fetch their bike out of the back. Definitely sounds like the wrong way around...

 

[ratboy]

Yes for them reserve and collect is a win/win. Get the customer in the store "oh you need a water bottle, pump, tool kit etc"...

You have to remember that many buyers are savvy in this sector. Many will only buy from Wiggle and Chain Reaction as their prices are so good. Evans runs a massive chain of stores as do many of the others - great for service, but generally not so good with price. I'm not sure that an affiliate store without Wiggle would work well... (i may be wrong here)

 

[Systreg]

I'm not sure that an affiliate store without Wiggle would work well... (i may be wrong here)

You're not wrong mate, you have to have Wiggle included in any aff store set up, the proper hard core riders use sites like Wiggle, they beat pretty much everyone on price as they don't have the overheads of running high street stores, they operate solely online.

At Halfords, it's mostly unseasoned occasional riders who use it to buy bikes/accessories for themselves, or to buy a bike as a present for their kid, they see the store as a name they recognise and trust, but don't seem to realise the savings they could make if they looked at the likes of Wiggle, but since they never heard of them as a high street name, they probably don't trust them.

Halfords has a bad name amongst the cycling fraternity, mainly because of the so called bike mechanics who work in some Halfords stores, a number of whom seem to be pretty clueless about bikes, some set up bikes incorrectly and give bad advice on choice of bikes, although that's not the case with mechanics in all stores, depends which store you go to, but as is often the case, they all get tarred with the same brush, which is a bit unfair as some of them are decent and Halfords do sell some great bikes like the Boardman and Carrera's ranges.

At the end of the day, Wiggle is a must have retailer for any affiliate, any shortfall you see from their now 2% commissions, is more than made up for by any 5% and 6% sales you might make at Halfords and Evans, so it all equals out to over 3% average for all sales, probably closer to 4% average now that Wiggle are doing 2% on bikes as well.

 

[tifosi]

You're not wrong mate, you have to have Wiggle included in any aff store set up, the proper hard core riders use sites like Wiggle, they beat pretty much everyone on price as they don't have the overheads of running high street stores, they operate solely online.

At Halfords, it's mostly unseasoned occasional riders who use it to buy bikes/accessories for themselves, or to buy a bike as a present for their kid, they see the store as a name they recognise and trust, but don't seem to realise the savings they could make if they looked at the likes of Wiggle, but since they never heard of them as a high street name, they probably don't trust them.

Halfords has a bad name amongst the cycling fraternity, mainly because of the so called bike mechanics who work in some Halfords stores, a number of whom seem to be pretty clueless about bikes, some set up bikes incorrectly and give bad advice on choice of bikes, although that's not the case with mechanics in all stores, depends which store you go to, but as is often the case, they all get tarred with the same brush, which is a bit unfair as some of them are decent and Halfords do sell some great bikes like the Boardman and Carrera's ranges.

At the end of the day, Wiggle is a must have retailer for any affiliate, any shortfall you see from their now 2% commissions, is more than made up for by any 5% and 6% sales you might make at Halfords and Evans, so it all equals out to over 3% average for all sales, probably closer to 4% average now that Wiggle are doing 2% on bikes as well.

The transformation of Geoffrey Butler cycles - which when I raced in the 90's-early 2000s was one of a number of small cycle shops advertising in cycling weekly - to the online goliath it today is a story in online merchandising and generic branding which is top of the class. Surprised me when I found out who they were originally!

Cycle to Work Scheme: Wiggle.co.uk Online Bike Shop Review | MoneyHighStreet.com

 

[nnh]

Some very interesting opinions guys...Dont get me wrong I think it very important that people with disabilities get an equal chance to make money in affiliate marketing...I know parking is pants but there is still money in Adsense.

Anyway a special Christmas offering for all wiggle affiliates Sammons Preston - Aids to Daily Living Sorry I just couldnt resist it...