When Does A Brand Become A Merchant?
posted in Affiliate Marketing |
With reference to paid search and a merchant “x” program with keyword restrictions … at what point does a brand become a merchant .. and what is the rule with regard to resellers.
Let’s take a couple of recent examples. Last week I was working briefly on a keyword database for sporting supplements. One of the popular brands also has an affiliate program, but their branded products are also sold by other resellers / merchant “y”who also have affiliate programs.
Can I or Can’t I use those keywords, or would I have to remove myself from the program of merchant “x” in order to use those keywords & promote the resellers. I haven’t mentioned this merchant yet because they see the logical problem, seem quite reasonable & are maybe looking at opening up their keyword policy because their resellers are already in the space.
Suntan lotions & creams was another I have been working on, Ambre Solaire is a popular brand who currently don’t have an affiliate program so I have a choice of merchants of who to send customers to, but what if they started a program with keyword restrictions?
Now lets take other programs like Dell & Apple which have keyword restrictions (maybe even BBGs 😉 ) There are other merchants (with affiliate programs) who are resellers of their products .. Can I or Can’t I use keywords related to those products?
Probably the biggest area is mobile phones like Orange, Vodafone, T Mobile, (the former two having BBGs btw), but there are plenty of other retailers who offer tarifs or handsets relating to them.
We also see a few brand clothing merchants too, basically the list goes on & on.
Say I was bidding on “Sony DVD Player” but the Sony affiliate program had keyword restrictions, it’s like them turning around to an electrical retailer in the high street & telling them they can’t promote Sony products in their shop window.
It’s a tricky one, but in my opinion if there is a reseller of those products then any associated keywords should perhaps be fair game, unless the reseller / merchant “y specfically prohibits it. However the problem develops still further if the original merchant “x” appears somewhere on your site & not necessarily the landing page even if your focus is on the resellers. It’s a slight dilemma when merchant “x” starts throwing toys out of their cot, then the only option is perhaps to drop out of the merchant “x” program in favour of the reseller / merchant “y.
Is this going to be a further potential problem & additional clauses merchants will start incorporating? I think we already see similar on magazine & hotel affiliate programs, but will it escalate? Will boundaries be further encroached with get out of jail free cards enforcing further restrictions.
