Reputed home furnishings brand Heal’s has announced that it is partnering withthe world’s largest affiliate network, Rakuten LinkShare UK.
Heal’s aims to increase its presence across the Web over the festive period and foster ongoing brand relationships with consumers through Rakuten LinkShare’s comprehensive portfolio of lifestyle savvy publishers. Heal’s wants to align itself with publishers that will not only drive sales, but also echo the brands’ values and heritage of contemporary and quality design. As such, lifestyle and content curation publishers including mytrouvés andFurnish.co.uk will be key to Heal’s’ affiliate programme, revealing the innovative approach the 200 years old brand is taking to e-commerce.
Heal’s will also be looking to the latest technology and digital trends, such a mobile and social browsing and shopping, to drive traffic and sales. To take advantage of the mobile channel, Heal’s will be using online-to-offline apps such as Vouchercloud and O2 Priority Moments loyalty product to drive nearby consumers into stores, whileShopcade taps into Facebook, letting users recommend products to their network.
Today’s shopper is web-savvy and will look to content-rich websites across multiple devices and platforms such as blogs, apps and lifestyle publications to help them make decisions about gifts to buy for loved ones for Christmas. With the online shopping experience now as important as the in-store experience, getting this channel right is the new challenge. Rakuten LinkShare has existing relationships with publishers that reach a wide consumer audience in this space, and Heal’s is looking to harness these publishers’ links with loyal online shoppers to drive affiliate sales. In addition to this, Rakuten LinkShare UK recently reported a 65 per cent growth in sales through its network in Q2, and Heal’s is aiming to tap into this growth to drive sales nationwide.
Andrea Warden, CEO at Heal’s commented: “We wanted an affiliate network that was focused on communicating not just our products but also our brand values, as well as providing an online shopping experience that customers will enjoy. The targeting that affiliate marketing offers allows us to understand our customers’ tastes, and so direct the right consumers to the right products. It goes without saying that Christmas is a key time for us to both drive sales from existing customers, as well as introducing our brand to new buyers. Using an affiliate network for these dual objectives aims will provide us with the best return on investment.”
Anthony Quinn, Director of Advertiser Services at Rakuten LinkShare UK commented: “As one of the UK’s leading furniture retailers, Heal’s remains at the forefront of the industry, through their adoption of online marketing strategies. Their launch on the Rakuten LinkShare UK Network is aligned with their ambitious plans for the future, and together we will be working to ensure their business objectives are successfully met.”