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Affiliation 2#

The focus lies in supporting others to successfully sell products and directly benefit from successful transactions. Affiliates usually profit from some kind of pay-per-sale or pay-per-display compensation. The company, on the other hand, is able to gain access to a more diverse potential customer base without additional active sales or marketing efforts.


Apply this pattern to your own business and create your next innovative business model!

Examples: Iconic Cases

How they do it: Rather than offering an affiliate program on its own, some Pinterest users use the platform to publish their own affiliate links. Users adding their personal affiliate link (e.g. for Amazon.com’s affiliate program which redirects to a relevant product) to a popular post generate a lot of clicks and thus receive a share of the revenue. Due to its engaged user audience and scale, users interested in earning an income by posting affiliate links are attracted to the Pinterest platform.
Learn more about Pinterest →

How they do it: As a user of Dropbox’ file hosting service, customers can earn additional hosting space by inviting friends to use the service as well.
Learn more about Dropbox →

How they do it: By cooperating with 3rd party businesses, American Express can actively drive customers to spent money with them, e.g. through giving an increased amount of loyalty reward points for certain partners.
Learn more about American Express →

How they do it: CDNow was a pioneer in the affiliate program space. The concept of CDNow’s BuyWeb program was that sites could join their program, link to their content and earn a commission from any purchases made from their site. Such commissions could be paid out via check or as compensation to purchase products through their site.
Learn more about CDnow →

How they do it: Airbnb offers an affiliate program for the acquisition of customers as well as new hosts. Websites who feature an Airbnb listing get a commission for every booking that they drive through their audience. Same goes for affiliates who showcase Airbnb hosting opportunities.
Learn more about Airbnb →



Apply this pattern to your own business and create your next innovative business model!