LinkShare U.S. Press Releases

LinkShare Helps Drive Sales for its Retailers – Up a Dramatic 17 Percent on Black Friday and 21 Percent on Cyber Monday

Massive Same-Store Sales Increase Achieved by Following LinkShare’s Holiday Shopping Marketing Best Practices

New York -- December 12, 2008 -- LinkShare today announced that retailers within its network significantly out-performed other online retailers in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, reporting double digit increases in same store revenue year-over-year. While the retail world has been bracing for a holiday shopping season with lower-than-usual revenue due to a tough economy, retailers in LinkShare’s affiliate network were able to dramatically outpace comScore’s reported 1 percent growth for this annual shopping day.

LinkShare’s retailers rely on the network’s affiliates to promote their brand and products to online consumers. In light of the bad economy, LinkShare distributed a series of e-newsletters to its advertisers which included past shopping trend data as well as industry “best practices” on how to maximize online sales – both pre- and- post holiday. Network retailers and affiliates offered special “Black Friday” promotions, coupons, and deals to online shoppers who made purchases that day.

“We were pleased to see such a big increase in revenue for our partners,” said Yasuhisa “Yaz” Iida, co-president, LinkShare. “Our network is made up of advertisers and publishers that work closely together to bring online shoppers quality brands and products. These members have been working especially hard this season in order to keep revenue up while offering shoppers the best deals possible. These results reflect, despite a tough economic climate, consumers’ desire to continue the tradition of holiday shopping, while paying particular attention to brand and product promotions.”

Retailers within the LinkShare network also saw a large and unexpected increase in this year’s “Cyber Monday” sales. According to comScore, online retailers, on average, experienced a 15 percent increase in sales on this popular “cyber” shopping day over last year, while LinkShare’s merchants saw a 21 percent increase year over year on a same store basis.

“We are very pleased with the Cyber Monday sales results we achieved through LinkShare’s network of affiliates,” said David Lonczak, Chief Marketing Officer of drugstore.com. “LinkShare’s network of affiliates played an important role in our Cyber Monday success and I expect they will continue to do so throughout the holiday shopping season.” 

 Within LinkShare’s network, the categories that brought in the highest revenue were department stores, toys/games, apparel, and high-end luxury brands. The weeks leading up to “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” saw increased click-through activity within the network, reflecting the US shopper’s commitment to finding the best deals this shopping season. These “clicks” became purchases as consumers went back to take advantage of online retailers’ product promotions.   

** Results are preliminary and based on latest available data.

About LinkShare Corporation
LinkShare Corporation provides ecommerce businesses with a vast, high quality pay per action marketing network, along with expert consultative services and patented technology. LinkShare's cost-efficient pay per action (PPA) affiliate, search and lead generation campaigns acquire new customers, increase revenue and drive results. LinkShare clients are Fortune 500 and prominent companies doing business online, including J.C. Penney, 1-800-Flowers.com, American Express and Avon Products. LinkShare was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, London and Tokyo.  For more information, please visit: www.linkshare.com.

About Rakuten
Headquartered in Tokyo, Rakuten is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive Internet service companies, providing leading services in e-commerce, portal & media, travel, financial services, and professional sports. Rakuten focuses on new business development and increasing its scope in order to improve and diversify service offerings. Rakuten is a publicly traded company in Japan (JASDAQ: 4755).

Media Contacts:

Mark Kirschner
LinkShare
646-943-8359
mkirschner@linkshare.com

Kristin Parran
Blanc & Otus Public Relations
617-451-6070
kparran@blancandotus.com