Whilst all eyes are on Dixons and their diminishing returns, the other electronics retailer SHARP announced a cut of almost 50% in commissions, dropping from 6.5% to 3.5%, effective immediately.

“The Sharp programme has been a fantastic success to date, especially the recent discount code offering.

“Sharp has made the decision to continue to offer these codes as they feel it is a very strong route for affiliates to assist Sharp in finding new customers.

“The thinking behind this move is that affiliates will have much higher conversion and will therefore achieve a greater volume of sales, rather than a higher commission but much less volume without the end-user offer,” it was announced on affiliates4u.

I love that they’ve added a range of new codes to promote some significant discounts but it’s also a significant drop in commission in exchange for them.

As a discount site owner, I do already agree to cut my commissions to a reasonable level. This isn’t for every merchant that offers a code. It is in exchange for an Exclusive branded code ie SHOPCODES. I feel the unique code adds value to my site and becomes a unique selling point and differentiator as compared to another affiliate site that utilises a product data feed.

Also, those negotiated commissions are for a code that cover the whole product range. These SHARP codes that last until the end of January, only cover 11 products. This is now down to 10 as the 46″ TV is out of stock.

Thirdly, rather than increase conversions, this will likely make it more difficult. For now, every content site may need to publish these codes to make up for the shortfall in commission or compete. So every content site will become a code site too, meaning more competition for me, meaning I’ve lost my USP.

Fourthly, these codes are actually also published on the SHARP product pages, further diminishing USP. Although looking at their pages, the discount is below the ‘add to basket’ button.

Fifthly, some other non-code site owners may also suggest that you won’t acquire new customers with a code. Merely that they were your customers anyway but then found the discount code box at the Shopping Basket page, so went off to search for a code site.

The SHARP codes have been available since the campaign launch and it’s obvious they’ve been a success to a number of affiliates.

Myself, I’ve not made any SHARP sales yet, despite 140 unique page views. The paint hadn’t dried on my new SHARP page before I received an email saying my website hadn’t been approved.

That email was sent in error to all their affiliates, when it was intended for a limited number of new ones.

So yes, I’ll still be happy when I make my first sale. Whatever the level, it will be more commission received than currently. I’d have suggested offering a 5% commission rate and offering a Free Delivery discount code for all products. But with Free Delivery already available, there’d be no point.