Cassie Colletti, Director of eCommerce, Lacoste: “Over Christmas, affiliates helped us drive online traffic and sales for consumers. With the continued growth of mobile commerce, we needed the assurance that transactions on every device would be securely and accurately attributed.
Rakuten LinkShare gave us that peace of mind and enabled us to reap the benefits of a record-breaking Christmas shopping season.”
LONDON, UK– 22nd January 2014 – Today Rakuten Marketing announces that its affiliate arm, Rakuten LinkShare, saw strong growth globally for the 2013 Christmas shopping season, (1st November to 31st December). Along with double-digit growth for goods purchased on desktops, the company also reported unprecedented growth in sales of goods bought through smartphones and tablets.
Specifically, Rakuten LinkShare’s results for Christmas 2013 are as follows
- A 31 percent increase in same-store sales in the UK year-over-year (YOY) and a 30 percent increase in same-store sales in the US YOY
- Same-store sales completed on desktops increased by 24 percent in the US and 10 percent in the UK
- Tablets accounted for 81 percent of mobile sales in the UK and 70 percent of mobile sales in the US
- Sales on smartphone devices increased 94 percent YOY in the UK
Mark Haviland, MD, Rakuten Marketing Europe, commented: “Industry data shows that twice as much was spent on mobile devices in the UK in December 2013 compared to December 2012, and the results from our network reflect this appetite amongst consumers for m-commerce. In 2013 we saw a mobile boom; shoppers chose their tablets rather than the tills, highlighting how crucial it is for retailers to have a strong multichannel offering. Shoppers are either buying on the go via smartphone or engaging with brands on their tablets at home; it’s imperative that retailers work to target these shoppers to continue success in 2014.”
Additionally Rakuten Marketing added several new advertisers to its client roster across the affiliate and display arms of its business. Beauty brand Crabtree & Evelyn and Big Cup Little Cup Coffee will run affiliate programmes in the UK whilst luxury designer fashion brand Joseph signs to Rakuten MediaForge, the company’s display service in the UK.
Rakuten MediaForge also saw strong overall international growth across Q4, nearly doubling its number of clients and seeing triple digit growth in revenue in the final quarter (106%).
In addition, Shoebuy.com and Lacoste in the US, Crocs Australia, Lacoste Canada, and Bonds (Australia) will also run affiliate programmes with Rakuten LinkShare.
Cassie Colletti, Director of eCommerce, Lacoste: “Over Christmas, affiliates helped us drive online traffic and sales for consumers. With the continued growth of mobile commerce, we needed the assurance that transactions on every device would be securely and accurately attributed. Rakuten LinkShare gave us that peace of mind and enabled us to reap the benefits of a record-breaking Christmas shopping season.”
“On the heels of another successful Christmas season, strong year-over-year growth, and being named the top performance marketing network for the third consecutive year, we’re poised for continued growth in the coming year,” said Yaz Iida, chief executive officer, Rakuten LinkShare. “We enter 2014 with even higher goals to ensure we’re exceeding the expectations set by our growing network of advertisers and publishers.”
About Rakuten Marketing
Rakuten Marketing provides advertisers and marketers with expert technology and services for affiliate marketing, retargeting, display, search marketing, lead generation, and loyalty. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States.
As part of Rakuten, one of the world’s leading Internet service companies, Rakuten Marketing includes Rakuten LinkShare, the #1 ranked performance marketing network and Rakuten MediaForge, a leader in retargeting and display recognised for its pay-for-performance consumer engagement business model.
Contacts:
Hotwire, Beth Sissons
020 7608 4670