Commission Junction


			Commission Junction Product Catalog Shows Doubling of Conversion Rates Online Retailers Succeed With Product Links SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Feb. 18, 2003 – Today Commission Junction, a leader in pay-for-performance marketing, announced that its Product Catalog feature is being utilized by hundreds of online retailers complementing their performance-based online ad inventory with product links. Product links are in high demand by Web publishers because their average conversion rates double those of traditional link formats. And, the Commission Junction Product Catalog allows retail advertisers to offer publishers product links including product visuals and descriptions, which direct customers right to the product instead of directing them to the advertisers' home page, resulting in higher conversions. Lisa Cross, director, e-commerce marketing for WBShop.com, Warner Bros. Online Shop, and a strong proponent of product links, says, "Enabling publishers to post individual WBShop.com product images with complete product descriptions and pricing information enhances their site content and brings their visitors one step closer to purchase. Making it easier for visitors to purchase by giving them all of the product information before they even get to WBShop.com increases conversion rate and subsequently commissions for publishers." As the effectiveness of the banner ad has declined, Commission Junction advertisers have become more successful with product links and other advanced ad formats available. Among the top 10 retailers with product catalogs in the Commission Junction network, the average click-through rate for product links in 2002 was 13 percent. On average this is 19 times higher than their banner ad click-through rates. According to Shoes.com affiliate manager Brook Schaaf, "Product images help publishers pre-sell their visitors, instead of just redirecting them to our home page. This results in more conversions for Shoes.com, as well as more commissions for the publishers, which increases their loyalty to the program and their incentive to work with us. As a result, product catalogs have become a key ingredient to the success of all three of our Web properties." The Product Catalog technology makes it easy for an advertiser to create and manage any number of catalogs with an unlimited number of products. Commission Junction's data transfer methods allow for easy distribution of even the largest catalogs to publishers, along with the most current information, pricing and images. Publishers can locate product links by keyword search in the client interface and can download the data in their preferred format. Advertisers track the performance of multiple product catalogs in real-time and can expand and develop new catalogs as their program develops. "Product Catalog helps retailers create a profitable new channel for even the largest inventory of products, with little setup or maintenance required," said Elizabeth Cholawsky, senior vice president, marketing and product development. "Our retailers are using the functionality more as they have seen the revenue it can produce, and the scalability of the technology allows for unlimited growth potential. The Product Catalog is just one of the ways Commission Junction makes it simple for retailers to incorporate pay-for-performance into their overall marketing strategy and begin seeing immediate results." Product Catalog Case Studies The Warner Bros. Online Shop, WBShop.com, has developed an extensive product catalog for its pay-for-performance program that includes toys, games, apparel and more for popular WB characters like Batman, Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo, as well as for movies like Harry Potter, Kangaroo Jack, and The Matrix. With an easy product link upload process, WBShop.com can keep hundreds of link images and details fresh as its inventory changes. During the fourth quarter of 2002, product links accounted for 35 percent of sales from WBShop.com's pay-for-performance program, and generated a conversion rate of 4 percent. Shoes.com, Inc., which manages pay-for-performance marketing programs for Web sites Shoes.com, Famous Footwear, and The Walking Company, maintains product catalogs for all three programs, and updates thousands of product links each day. The Shoes.com program has over 6,500 product links in its inventory, which publishers integrate into their Web sites and email content. Shoes.com's product links drove around 10 percent of its pay-for-performance sales at the beginning of 2002, but grew throughout the year to total 20 percent in December 2002. They also generated an average click-through rate of 18 percent for the year. About Commission Junction Commission Junction delivers advanced performance-based online marketing solutions that facilitate strategic relationships between advertisers and publishers, driving accountable results for each client. By publishing performance metrics on advertisers, publishers, and ads within its network and leveraging its own expertise in online marketing through service, education and promotion, Commission Junction creates an open marketplace of low risk and high reward for its clients. The company serves billions of impressions monthly, ranking it among the largest ad networks in the world. Clients include leading online marketers eBay, MSN®, and USA TODAY. Commission Junction is headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif., with offices in San Francisco, New York and London.



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