Affiliate marketing has been a rapidly growing business for years. It is a proven option for people looking for a great way to earn money from home whether they want a little extra spending cash or they are looking to make it big. Of course, it does take time and effort to become a success, but it is always good to hear about just how massive the performance marketing industry has become.
According to a recent report, affiliate marketing in the UK is now a 1.1 Billion Euro industry, and advertiser spend has risen 8% over the last year. This translates to being responsible for 1% of Britian’s entire Gross Domestic Product, which is quite incredible when you really think about it.
Senior Manager at PwC, Dan Bunyan, commented on this saying, “The fact that consumer spend is growing at nearly twice the rate of advertiser spend, indicates that the OPM (Online Performance Marketing) market is maturing and brands are becoming more efficient in how they drive consumer spending.”
He went on to say, “OPM has grown to a near-17 billion industry due to the fact that all parties continue to benefit. Advertisers get new customers extremely cost-effectively, consumers save money and get access to free online content, whilst the publisher in the middle gets revenue through referral fees.”
The near 17 Euro amount he is referring to is the amount of consumer spend being generated through affiliate marketing. The 1.1 Billion Euros is the amount that goes to the affiliates and/or affiliate marketing companies for their role in promoting the products.
Another impressive statistic that has been reported about the UK affiliate marketing industry is that a full 79% of UK adults have used OPMs in their shopping. This means most people are buying at least some products through affiliate marketers. This is quite massive, especially when you consider the fact that most products still aren’t available through an affiliate and virtually all affiliate sales are online which is still a minority in the total sales breakdown.
Some people wonder just how great of an return on investment (ROI) affiliate marketing is for the brands ad advertisers. The fact is, it out performs virtually every option. Back in 2012, with a 814 Euro investment into affiliate marketing, brands generated 9 Billion Euro in sales. This means for every 1 Euro they are spending, they are bringing in over 9. In the most recent report, that number has grown to generating 14 Euro for every one they spend.
To make it even better, the UK market is continuing to do more and more online shopping and other activities that involve affiliates. Tim Elkington, the Chief Strategy Officer at IAB’s UK division said, “Britons generate 10 million clicks every day in pursuit of getting a better deal or finding the right product – it’s an utterly ingrained part of today’s savvy consumerism.”
While this particular report is about the UK, affiliate marketing is a growing part of the overall consumer spend throughout virtually all Western civilizations and it is only expected to continue to grow.
