Department store House of Fraser has become one of the first retailers to reward affiliates for their contribution in multi-device journeys.

Using insights and technology from Rakuten Attribution, a division of Rakuten Marketing, the high-street store is able to better grasp the role of affiliates across the path to purchase, and pay affiliate commission for paths which take place over multiple devices.
 
Alix Satchell, online partnerships manager at House of Fraser, states that the retailer wants to ensure early contributors are not forgotten and hopes this move will entice affiliates to continue to contribute to all stages of the consumer journey.

 “Without an understanding of our customers’ journeys across channels, we can’t reward valuable contributions from affiliates,” she said.

“Around 60% of House of Fraser’s returning customers buy from us using different devices, so it’s really important that we understand the overall journey; it helps us to optimise our marketing activity and understand what influences our customers to buy.”

Driving commission

Almost two-thirds (63%) of people use two or more devices in the course of a day, with 21% using three or more, according to a report by Facebook.

However, as the use of multiple devices for shopping increases, many affiliates are missing out on rewards.

Cookies, which are at the heart of industry-standard affiliate commissions models, are dropped when a user changes to a different device to the one where the conversion took place.

House of Fraser has recognised the importance of affiliates and the role they play in crucial conversion rates and, with the help of Rakuten, is developing its digital marketing strategy which will reflect the channels and publishers that are driving sales.

Accurate view

The amount of affiliate touchpoints currently awarded by House of Fraser has increased by 83% and the retailer will now be able to reward affiliates for 25% of multi-device journeys.

“House of Fraser has become one of the first brands to move away from ‘last-click-wins’ and pay its affiliates based on a multi-attribution payment model.” said Seth Richardson, CTO at Rakuten Marketing.

“They now have a more accurate view of user behaviour with which to optimise their activity and can effectively incentivise affiliates to contribute at all stages of the path to purchase, allowing all parties to grow together. With such a deep understanding of the modern shopper, House of Fraser has the knowledge to succeed in today’s omni-channel retail environment.”