
Our main business is that of being an Affiliate Network, although we do also act as an affiliate ourselves in relation to some merchants (more below on this). Our primary income is generated through override commissions or commission splits with our affiliates. We thus operate on a partnership-driven business model. In this model, the network facilitates connections between merchants (who want their products or services promoted) and affiliates (who drive traffic and sales through marketing efforts), while earning a share of the commissions for every successful transaction.
How the Model Works.
Affiliates: Affiliates sign up to the network to promote products from merchants listed on the platform. They are given unique affiliate links or coupon codes that track the traffic they send to a merchant's website or to our leads admin office in the case of larger ticket deals, e.g., a business premises printing solution. When a customer makes a purchase through an affiliate's link or referral, the affiliate earns a percentage of the sale, called a commission.
Merchants: Merchants list their products or services through our affiliate network and define the commission rate they are willing to pay affiliates and us for generating sales or leads. The merchants benefit from a performance-based marketing approach, only paying when a sale is made or a lead successfully generated by an affiliate.
Affiliate Network: The affiliate network acts as an intermediary, connecting affiliates with merchants and facilitating the tracking of sales and payments. The network either splits the commission earned from each sale between the affiliate and itself or receives an override commission from the merchant based on total affiliate sales. These amounts represent the portion that the network keeps as its income (less any direct expenses, e.g., legal or consultancy) for providing the affiliate deals, the platform, tracking, and support services. Whether it is split or an override depends entirely on the merchant and is usually determined by what is easier for them to administer based on their book-keeping and recording systems.
Revenue Generation via Commission Splitting.
When the network's income comes from commission splitting, here's how the revenue flows:
Merchant to Network: The merchant offers a commission (e.g., 10% of checkout basket value minus postage and packing).
Network to Affiliate: The affiliate network allocates a percentage of that commission to the affiliate (e.g., 6%) and retains the remaining portion (e.g., 4%) as its income.
This commission split structure allows the network to profit from each successful transaction without charging the affiliate either upfront fees or large monthly fees. The network’s income scales as more sales are generated, providing both the network and affiliates with mutual incentives to drive high-quality traffic.
Revenue Generation through Override Commission.
Merchant to Affiliate: The merchant offers a commission (e.g., 5% of checkout basket value minus postage and packing). This may be paid to the affiliate directly by the merchant or via the network's commission accounting system. Which method is used depends on what is easier for the merchant.
Merchant to Network: The merchant agrees with the Network that it will pay a separate additional override commission after every 10 sales, for example, made through network members. This may be based on the total value of the sum of the example 10 sales or some multiple of the average sale. This will differ from merchant to merchant as is normal in the business, and will usually depend on what is the easiest to administer for the merchant.
A Value Proposition for ALL.
For Affiliates: They benefit from access to a wide range of products and services from multiple merchants, reliable commission tracking, and timely payouts without needing to negotiate directly with merchants or pay large monthly fees.
For Merchants: They gain access to a pool of affiliates who can promote their products, increasing their reach and sales while only paying when a successful conversion occurs.
For the Affiliate Network: By taking a share of each transaction, the network builds a proportional revenue stream which is directly tied to the performance of the affiliates, encouraging the network to attract high-quality affiliates and merchants. In order for Union Commercial to be successful it must ensure that its affiliates are successful as no matter what percentage the split is, any percent of zero is still zero so the success of our affiliates is our number one priority.
Fee Income.
In addition to its primary income from commissions earned from merchants from the sales of goods and services, the network also derives an income stream from charging monthly fees to its Silver, Gold and Platinum members. This fee income is entirely supplementary and is intended only to cover the costs of the additional benefits which it provides to those members over the Bronze members (who pay only a minimal amount of just £4) including things like mentorship and provision of email addresses, websites and other assistance. No profit is made from these fees as all - in fact, more than all - of this income is spent on the provision of the services.
Income from Affiliate Marketing.
As mentioned above, we also earn commission from our own activities as an affiliate marketer in our own right. This may derive from deals struck before the network was set up and we no longer engage very actively in this area, as the running of the network is now our main priority. In fact, we mainly now use our own affiliate marketing activity as a means of providing training to new affiliates in the vain of this is how to do it, so both new and existing members will see how we go about DIRECT and INDIRECT marketing as they progress through the training.
Compliance and Transparency.
For the network to remain compliant with regulations, it must ensure:
FTC Guidelines (US): Affiliates must disclose their relationships with merchants in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines, which require transparency in promotional efforts.
UK Consumer Protection Regulations: In the UK, the network must comply with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, ensuring that affiliates do not engage in deceptive marketing practices.
Summary.
By structuring the primary income of our affiliate network around commission splits and override commissions, we ensure that we provide value to our affiliates. We cannot survive on the membership fees for any longer than a few months, so we have to sell, and because we are not actively engaged on our own account, the only way we can do that is through YOU, our members.
10%, 20%... even 50% or 100% of nothing is still nothing... no sales = no income. We depend on you just as much as you depend on us!
We've said it before in several places, and we'll say it again here as we believe it be our network's STRONGEST selling point: WE CAN ONLY BE SUCCESFUL IF YOU ARE SUCCESFUL.
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