Affiliate Network
An affiliate network is an intermediary platform that connects merchants with a large pool of affiliates, handling tracking, reporting, and consolidated payments in exchange for fees, and giving both sides an established marketplace.
Networks such as CJ, Awin, and ShareASale sit between merchants and affiliates. The merchant gains access to a ready base of publishers and offloads tracking and payment logistics; affiliates get a single account to discover and promote many programs.
The trade-off is cost and control: networks typically charge setup and ongoing fees plus a percentage override on activity, and the merchant operates within the network's structure. The alternative is a self-hosted or in-house program run on affiliate software, where the merchant owns the direct relationship and avoids network overrides.
See also
- Merchant
A merchant is the business that owns the product and runs an affiliate program, paying partners a commission for the customers they refer.
- Affiliate
An affiliate is an individual or company that promotes another business's products in exchange for a commission on the sales or actions they generate.
- Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing model in which a business pays external partners a commission for each customer or sale they refer.
- Partner Marketing
Partner marketing is a broad discipline of growing revenue through external partners — affiliates, referrers, resellers, ambassadors, and integration partners — encompassing affiliate marketing and extending into strategic and channel partnerships.
- SaaS Partner Program
A SaaS partner program is a structured program through which a software company rewards external partners — affiliates, referrers, and resellers — for driving new subscriptions.
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