Why are Collaborative Commerce Networks more profitable than Affiliate Programs for Web Selling Partners?
In an Affiliate Network, when an end user at an affiliate’s site follows a link to a merchant, the affiliate has effectively lost that end user. The affiliate has no control over the experience their end user will have once they have left the site. In contrast, when an end user clicks on a contextual link in a Web Selling Partner’s (WSP’s) site, they are not transported to the merchant’s site. Instead, the end user is presented with a WSP branded site that contains content that may be contributed by either the WSP or the merchant, and they are presented with the specific product that the WSP has guided them to. For WSPs, this means they retain their traffic. What is the experience of the end user? Text links in the Web Selling Partner (WSP) site will direct the end user to a page known as a VirtualSite, which contains the commerce offering from the merchant, along with content from either the merchant or the WSP. The VirtualSite is branded by the WSP, providing the end user with a cons
