StyleFeeder, an online ‘personal’ style search and display affiliate platform, is based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Having won the 2009 Performance Awards for Exceptional Affiliate, StyleFeeder quickly caught the attention of one of the world’s largest media conglomerates.
The mid-December 2009 Performance Awards run by ShareASale affiliate network awarded the “Exceptional Affiliate” prize to StyleFeeder, a young company with just over 3 years of historical performance behind it. A platform that boasts Harvard graduates as it’s employees and advisors, the company favors itself with metaphors like ‘the LastFM of personal style’.
With the acquisition of StyleFeeder, Time Inc. forayed into the realm of online commerce and affiliate marketing. Itself part of Time Warner, Time Inc. made the acquisition in order to better place it’s fledgling e-commerce business by incorporating an additional revenue channel. For the company didn’t have too great a year in 2009, with a 22% drop in ad revenues, year-on-year, same period the previous year.
According to The Wall Street Journal, InStyle, which is Time Inc.’s fashion magazine, will get to benefit directly from the deal. InStyle’s website will integrate StyleFeeder throughout it’s website, and provide much needed boost toward subscription sales and display advertising. With possibilities of further weaving StyleFeeder throughout Time Inc.’s other websites like People en Espanol and Essence, StyleFeeder ends up being a bargain for Time Inc. and it’s subsidiaries.
And nothing short can be expected to come from a deal that could well be into eight figures. And with StyleFeeder’s user-base and unique visitors, Time Inc. has nothing but high hopes for the integration. StyleFeeder boasts of over 1 million registered members and 600,000 unique monthly visitors. With these numbers, StyleFeeder is surely expected to provide a much needed boost for Time Inc.’s online magazines.
This acquisition, and the potential for innovative and clear ways of running affiliate marketing, has come to prove the viability of the industry as a whole, as long as there is strong sense of respect and authority of partnership. From Terms of Services for affiliate programs, structured by merchants, to creating a value laden system of communication and compensation, affiliate can further it’s positive reputation through any looking glass.
With the trust and outlook demonstrated by Time Warner in acquiring StyleFeeder, one can only hope for the obvious ripples of strong belief in the future of affiliate marketing, even if in the contexts of social and comparison shopping.
ABSEM-AMM.com aggregates Affiliate Marketing News & Affiliate Marketing Tips written by Affiliate Marketing Management Experts.
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