In a move to expand its affiliate marketing reach with larger sites and
reduce customer acquisition costs, bookseller Barnes & Noble.com signed reciprocal marketing
pacts with seven name-brand e-commerce companies.
The company’s new partners are 1-800-FLOWERS.com (FLWS),
Expedia.com (EXPE), jcrew.com, L.L. Bean, PETsMART.com Inc. (PETM), PlanetRx.com (PLRX) and VitaminShoppe.com Inc. (VSHP)
Extensive online and off-line marketing efforts with the participating
companies are planned, said B&N. Follow-up sales will be pitched; when
customers complete shopping transactions on a program participants’ site,
they will find links to barnesandnoble.com (BNBN). In return, when barnesandnoble.com customers complete their transactions, they will see links to the
partner sites.
Other joint marketing initiatives are planned that will reward customers with
special offers. Financial arrangements were not disclosed but presumably
include some form of revenue sharing.
“This program exemplifies our commitment to reduce our cost of acquiring
customers,” said Carl Rosendorf senior vice president, barnesandnoble.com.
“By working with these seven companies, barnesandnoble.com gains access to
millions of online buyers without any marketing investment, due to the
reciprocal nature of the agreements.”
Launched in May 1997, barnesandnoble.com, which, focused largely on the sale
of books, music, software, magazines, prints, posters and related products,
says it has four million customers and competes head-on with Amazon.com (AMZN).
