Partners to boost Buy.com's customer reach

Online computer retailer Buy.com has launched an affiliate programme aimed at companies with web trading facilities.

Online computer retailer Buy.com has launched an affiliate programme aimed at companies with web trading facilities.

Companies that join the Buy.com programme recommend products available on its website by featuring a link on their own site. In return, they are eligible for a five per cent commission on any sales generated at Buy.com.

Anyone with a website is eligible to join and membership is free. When users click through to the Buy.com site via a member's site and make a Buy.com purchase, that member is then entitled to the commission.

The six-month-old company is hoping to enjoy similar results to that of its US parent, which signed up more than 10,000 affiliates in less than three months.

Gordon Henderson, Buy.com's vice president of marketing, is confident about the scheme. "A lot of internet companies advertise on TV and in the press, but we have aimed our marketing drive directly at the target audience - people already online," he said.

"It doesn't matter how big or small the affiliate websites are. We have already signed up 100 new sites in the first week and if we get just one new customer from [each of] those sites, that's 100 customers we wouldn't have had," he added.

Meanwhile, the US parent reported a loss of $33.6m for its second quarter 2000, compared with a $28.1m loss for the same period last year. Turnover for the quarter was $193.2m, up 49 per cent on the same quarter last year.

First published in Computer Reseller News