Last night, I had the pleasure of attending Fashion’s Night Out at M&S, in association with Vogue. Hosted by M&S TV ads very own Lisa Snowdon, the evening was a glamorous showcase of the new M&S styles for Autumn/Winter; debuting key pieces for the season including the aviator jacket, military style and vintage cool outfits which are all featured in the new TV campaign.

Watch the new TV campaign here – launched yesterday featuring all the girls, Twiggy, Danni, Lisa, VV and Ana.

The evening also entitled attendees to 10% off Womenswear, Menswear and Lingerie to give customers the chance to get their hands on all the new styles seen in the catwalk shows! Caryn Franklin also offered her expert advice in trend workshops, giving hot tips on the newest items to add to your wardrobe this season.

A huge thank you to M&S for such an enjoyable evening!

Katy

Best Buy UK, a leading consumer electronics retailer, has agreed an exclusive contract with Affiliate Window, the UK’s largest performance marketing network .

Best Buy UK’s affiliate marketing campaign – due to launch in the Autumn – will be an integral component to the success of their new transactional website which launches simultaneously. The site will include innovative elements such as ‘My Best Buy’, the company’s customer retention and rewards programme and a consumer forum, as well as comprehensive advice for those seeking knowledge and inspiration.

Partnering with Affiliate Window will provide Best Buy UK with a diverse range of website publishers committed to driving their online business forward. The extensive membership reach of cashback and loyalty portals and the vast array of content affiliate sites, combined with Best Buy’s extensive range of promotional tools, such as comprehensive product feeds, will further establish the company’s differentiating credentials in the UK consumer electronics market.

Following on from the successful opening of Best Buy stores around the UK in Thurrock (Essex), Hedge End (Southampton) and Merry Hill (West Midlands) earlier this year, the popularity of Best Buy’s website at www.bestbuy.co.uk and the reach of the Affiliate Window network will combine to establish the Best Buy site as the designated destination for consumers wishing to take advantage of the very latest and greatest technology, services and content as well as inspiration and impartial advice – and competitive value.

deVere Forster, MD Online for Best Buy UK added: “Today’s announcement marks the beginning of the next stage in the development of Best Buy UK online. We’ll be working closely with Affiliate Window and the broader publisher community to ensure that the launch of our transactional website in the Autumn builds on our already established and ground-breaking presence online, and provides our customers with another way to shop with us.”

Mark Walters, Managing Director for Affiliate Window said: “Adding Best Buy UK to our growing portfolio of blue chip clients further signifies the value that our affiliate partners can deliver. Best Buy UK has a progressive outlook towards affiliates and I’m confident we will see the company using relationships and tools in equal measure to maximise opportunities for all parties.”

Affiliate Window is an award-winning network with a proven track record in the retail sector, and robust tracking capabilities including a full analytics package.

-Ends-

For media enquiries, please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

Best Buy Press Office:
t: 0203 003 6634
e: mediaenquiries@bestbuy.co.uk

About Best Buy and The Carphone Warehouse
In 2006 Best Buy established a partnership with the Carphone Warehouse to bring its business model and mobile phone expertise to the US market under the banner ‘Best Buy Mobile’. Two years later, Best Buy acquired 50% of the Carphone Warehouse’s European and US retail interests for £1.1billion, creating Best Buy Europe. The new venture is designed to accelerate the development of Carphone Warehouse’s retail proposition and to introduce Best Buy stores across Europe, beginning in the UK in spring 2010.
For more information go to www.bestbuy.co.uk.

About Best Buy Co., Inc.
With operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Mexico and Turkey, Best Buy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services with a commitment to growth and innovation. The Best Buy family of brands and partnerships collectively generates more than $49 billion in annual revenue and includes brands such as Best Buy; Best Buy Mobile; Audiovisions; The Carphone Warehouse; Future Shop; Geek Squad, Five Star; Magnolia Audio Video; Napster; Pacific Sales; The Phone House; and Speakeasy. Approximately 180,000 employees apply their talents to help bring the benefits of these brands to life for customers through retail locations, multiple call centers and Web sites, in-home solutions, product delivery and activities in our communities. Community partnership is central to the way we do business at Best Buy. In fiscal 2010, we donated $25.2 million to improve the vitality of the communities where our employees and customers live and work. For more information about Best Buy, visit www.bby.com.

About My Best Buy
My Best Buy gives customers personalised perks and privileges including exclusive access to gigs and shows, offers and recommendations based on their interests as well an area online called ‘My Kit’, where customers will find their receipts, warranties and purchase history in one place.

Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE:MAR), the global operator and franchisor of an extensive portfolio of hotels, resorts and related accommodation facilities, has appointed Affiliate Window to further expand their UK affiliate channel. The Marriott family of brands has 60 hotels throughout Great Britain, with lodging properties in 68 other countries and territories.

Lena Huang, Sr. eCommerce Manager of Marriott International commented: “Affiliate marketing is an important channel for us and we are further expanding our efforts internationally. We decided to partner with Affiliate Window to access new affiliates and maximize sales in the UK and Ireland. It is paramount for us to have strong, pro-active partners on the network side that support our strategies in the local market.”

Gavin Wilson, Head of Commercial for the UK’s leading network added: “Both Marriott and Affiliate Window are leaders in their field and hence this long term partnership is one we have very high expectations for. The synergy between both businesses is widely apparent and with the Marriott brands strong and defined heritage, we are extremely pleased to be working with them.”

To learn more about Marriott’s UK affiliate operations, visit their international affiliate page: www.MarriottAffiliateProgramme.com

For press enquiries please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333

Overview & Brief:

As a veteran to the affiliate channel with nearly 10 years experience, Prezzybox has consistently been commended for their innovative approach, earning five A4U Awards over the past three years, in addition to being voted the IMRG Retail Website of the year in 2009.

The quirky gift and gadget retailer has always been an advocate of producing co-branded landing pages for their affiliate partners. A co-branded landing page is a specific page that visitors reach which features the logo and additional details of the affiliate website they have been referred from; this helps to reassure the customer that a relationship is in place between the two sites and that the link was in no way malicious. The creation of these pages for top loyalty sites has proven to increase conversion rates, providing a mutually beneficial relationship for both the retailer and affiliate partner.

Strategy & Execution:

Historically Prezzybox had, upon request, provided every affiliate with a bespoke co-branded landing page featuring stretch and save voucher codes. Although this approach worked well for them in the past, with the growing prominence of voucher code sites, combined with the initiative of other merchants and their voucher code strategies, Prezzybox felt that vouchers had not only lost their impact but no longer provided anything positive to the affiliate partners who were actively promoting them.

With Hitwise reports continuing to demonstrate a consumer demand for online discount codes, the decision was made not to remove this popular promotional tool, but instead revise it. To reflect this, company founder Zak Edwards introduced a new and improved voucher code scheme, offering a variety of codes, including percentage off vouchers and higher value stretch and save discounts. Coupled with a higher level of monitoring and the ability to control related commissions, voucher codes now serve their purpose by proving to be an effective and valuable asset to the Prezzybox programme.

Results:

In the current economic climate marketers continue to focus on ROI. 2009 was Prezzybox’s most successful year in affiliate marketing to date; they recorded a 42% year-on-year increase in affiliate transactions and an astonishing 62.5% growth in affiliate generated revenue. Their innovative method of cleverly combining bespoke landing pages and voucher codes has been credited as the key factor behind this significant uplift.

Using a standard landing page, cashback had an average conversion of 8.56% across a 6 month period. Following the introduction of a co-branded landing page and bespoke code, the conversion rate increased to a staggering 23.21% in just one month. This increase did not even reflect the Christmas season as the figures listed were generated in ‘off peak’ months.

Continuing this trend, from April – July 2009 MyVoucherCodes reported a 2.5% conversion on the Prezzybox programme without the use of a landing page. For the exact same period in 2010, the conversion jumped to 10.9% through the implementation of a bespoke landing page.

Finally, Nectar achieved a 4.8% conversion between March – June 2009 with an older version of a co-branded landing page, however following revisions the conversion increased to 5.2% for the same timeframe in 2010.

These figures prove the value that a bespoke strategy for loyalty, reward and cashback publishers can have and the positive impact strategically issued voucher codes can have.

Zak Edwards, Managing Director of Prezzybox said; “It’s great to see our co-branded landing pages combined with voucher offers working so well for us and our affiliate partners. Recently we’ve spent a lot of time and resource analyzing the impact of voucher codes in relation to ABV and general ROI, and going forward hope to operate smarter and more dynamically with our Voucher Code offerings to the benefit of our affiliates and ourselves.”

For more information please contact:
Lisa Chaikin
PR Manager, Affiliate Window
e: lisa.chaikin@affiliatewindow.com
t: 020 7553 0333