After a highly successful three-year partnership with Optimus Performance Marketing, which has seen expansion across a range of EU countries, global footwear brand Crocs has managed to successfully increase its affiliate revenue in each territory it has implemented a programme in since 2010.

Challenge

Shoe manufacturer Crocs was established in 2002 in the USA and later launched into Europe in 2005. In that time, Crocs has earned a powerful base of consumers, more than 100 million in 128 countries, all dedicated to the product.

When Optimus Performance Marketing (OPM) first began its work with global footwear company Crocs more than three years ago, the European affiliate marketing company was presented with the challenge to increase Crocs affiliate revenue across the EU whilst helping to develop its brand with target audiences.

Strategy

OPM initially took on six European territories; the UK, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain. Tactics implemented included the strategic use of voucher codes and cashback, as well as the introduction of exclusive PPC partnerships.

In September of 2010, OPM launched Crocs in the EU with a view to covering the territories without a local affiliate programme or website. This strategy was also implemented in order for OPM to identify specific countries with high traffic and sales that Crocs could focus on and target.

OPM also worked closely with content sites and blogs in order to produce targeted exposure of the Crocs brand to correct audiences. The team working on the account were constantly aware of new opportunities within the industry to support Crocs growth, and made sure that close relationships with Crocs were maintained, with weekly calls, emails and Skype sessions part of the routine. In order to preserve close relationships, OPM kept Crocs’ affiliates updated with offers, new products and developments.

Finally, regular analysis of promotions and offers, in order to determine what worked well for the Crocs brand and what did not, were carried out in order to plan future activities.

Results

As a result of this operation, programmes were launched in Austria and Finland in December 2010, followed by Sweden in April 2011 and Norway in September 2011. After an affiliate programme commenced in May 2012 for Poland, OPM’s work increased Crocs’ affiliate revenue in the country by 289%, and helped to outperform the entire revenue of 2012 by the end of March 2013.

Andrew Piper, IT director of Crocs in Europe made the following comments regarding Optimus Performance Marketing:

“We found Optimus professional and very helpful in order to help us realize our revenue goals. Their expertise in working with affiliates was key in increasing our awareness in this area, and we have seen revenue increase by more than 155% in Germany, and by 117% in Spain. OPM is helping to drive around 8% of the total online revenue of sales across the whole of the EU”.

Mark Russell, managing director of Optimus Performance Marketing, made the following comments regarding the company’s partnership with Crocs:

“The whole team here at Optimus are immensely proud of the results we have managed to achieve for Crocs in the past three years. What’s so great about working with the company is that it is such a loved brand across all age groups. The fact that the target audience stretches from young children to grandparents, creates a huge array of sales opportunities for affiliates.”