Iran's leading e-commerce service Digikala has launched an affiliate marketing platform as a strategy to expand its market reach and fortify its presence, following extensive lay-offs that proved that the company is in dire need of a shake-up to weather the economic storm the country is currently facing.
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by that entity's own marketing efforts, reported Digiato.
During a gathering held in the Homa Hotel in Tehran on Sunday morning, the company's CEO Hamid Mohammadi elaborated on the marketing strategy which he hopes will broaden the e-store's range of services and products.
Mohammadi said, "To bring variety to our products, we realized the need for content production and marketing. Websites, groups on messenger apps and Instagram pages which can circulate content can use this new system as a source of income."
Through the pay-per-sale strategy, the affiliate can promote a certain product on any platform. If other users access the product's page via the link provided by the affiliate and complete a purchase within 30 days, the publisher will receive a commission fee from Digikala for marketing.
Digikala CEO noted, "The method can create valuable content published through the right platform targeting the right audience. This will also remove the nuisance of unwelcomed irrelevant advertisement for users."
While boosting the e-store's sales, the system can especially generate a large income for social media influencers who have thousands of followers on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.
Those interested can visit the address affiliate.digikala.com to start cooperating with Digikala.
>Advantages
Mohammadi has hailed the affiliate marketing model as a "true win-win situation for all parties involved." According to the CEO of Digikala, the strategy has three pillars, the most important being the customer who through this strategy can receive only relevant advertisement which they are interested in.
The second pillar of the strategy is the seller who will benefit from an increased number of visitors and a boost in their conversion rate. A conversion rate is the number of sales made by a seller divided by the total number of visitors in a given period.
The third pillar of the strategy is the role played by the publisher or the affiliate that does marketing for products available on Digikala. Affiliates can boost their income by innovative ways of marketing.
Digikala's team of experts has studied the successful example of companies which have implemented affiliate marketing around the globe to adopt a version best suited for Iranian culture.
Affiliate marketing became widely known after Amazon launched its cost-per-click program. The multinational company's plan served as a model for subsequent programs.
Since the emergence of affiliate marketing, there has been little control over how affiliates operate. Previous endeavors have proved that affiliates use spam, false advertising, forced links and adware that drive traffic to their sponsors.
>Still Upbeat
While due to recent economic circumstances the e-store was forced to lay off 175 employees, Digikala has remained upbeat and is planning further expansion.
One of the leading startups in Iran, Digikala started off by selling gadgets on its website in 2006. Later on, they extended the company's products to include more categories, including a subdivision named Digistyle which offers clothing items.
On top of launching their affiliate marketing strategy, this year the startup will create an online grocery store and initiate DigiPay.
DigiPay will mark Digikala's inroads into the fintech sector and relieve customers of the hassle to insert their bank account information into the website every time they make a purchase.
