A savvy online marketer might realize that Flipkart, India’s biggest online retailer, generated over $4 billion in revenue. Joining the eCommerce site’s affiliate program can bolster your affiliate marketing income. But is the Flipkart affiliate program worth it?
Flipkart affiliate program is worth it to affiliate marketers whose primary audience is the Indian market. The program offers affiliate commissions that range from 4% to 20%, depending on the product category. Affiliate links come with a 24-hour cookie, and the program pays out monthly.
Flipkart is India’s biggest online site and is partially owned by Walmart and boasts more than 100 million users. In this review, we’ll delve deeper into Flipkart’s affiliate program and establish if it’s worthwhile for an affiliate marketer to pursue its membership.
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Perks of Flipkart Affiliate Program
Joining the Flipkart affiliate program carries numerous perks for the discerning affiliate markets that are not limited to:
- Limitless inventory. Just like Amazon, Flipkart carries an endless inventory that covers every possible online marketing niche. Affiliate marketers can create a site in any area where they can capitalize on their skills and knowledge to push affiliate offers.
- Generous sales commission. Flipkart’s affiliate commissions vary between categories and products. It ranges from 0.1% in gemstones, 4% and 8% in small and large appliances, 5% for books, 10% in furniture, to 18% in groceries.
- Huge target market. Flipkart is India’s largest eCommerce store with more than 100 million members. Affiliate marketers can tap into this vast online audience, push their affiliate offers, and generate considerable income.
- Customer support. Flipkart runs an in-house affiliate marketing program. It has a dedicated team in place to handle all matters relating to affiliate marketing. Affiliates are sure that someone is on hand to iron out any issue they may be dealing with.
- Huge potential. India has a digital population of more than 680 million, a 74% active eCommerce penetration, and an online retail market worth $73 billion. Actively targeting directing a sliver of this population and directing them to buy from Flipkart can earn an affiliate marketer huge revenue.
- 1-day cookie. Unlike other affiliate programs, Flipkart uses a 24-hour cookie to track affiliate sales. Flipkart’s huge customer base makes up for the short cookie duration to let affiliates earn high passive income each month.
- Monthly payments. Flipkart’s affiliate program features a monthly payout schedule via EFT or gift vouchers. It uses Electronic Funds Transfer to pay affiliates with a balance higher than Rs 5,000 ($68) and gift cards for balances of at least Rs 2,500 ($34).
- Site-wide cookie. Despite offering a 24-hour cookie duration, Flipkart credits affiliate marketers for all the items a customer buys using your affiliate links. That increases earnings when shoppers purchase items with a higher sales commission than the original product.
Potential Drawbacks of Flipkart Affiliate Program
Flipkart’s has some potential shortcomings that you should know about before enrolling:
- 24-hour cookie. Unlike other programs, Flipkart’s cookies are valid for only one day. Such short cookies lower an affiliate’s earning potential since they’re not credited with the sales if a shopper takes more than a day to buy.
- Not open to direct membership. Flipkart hasn’t enrolled new affiliates into its affiliate programs since 2018. New affiliates join the program through Cuelinks, India’s biggest affiliate network that’s notorious for low affiliate commissions.
- A capped referral payout. In addition to varying commissions on goods categories, Flipkart commission rates vary between mobile, desktop, and mobile app users. The rates also vary between new and existing customers, up to 15% on groceries, drastically reducing an affiliate’s earning potential.
Joining Flipkart’s Affiliate Program
Flipkart no longer accepts new applicants into its direct affiliate program since 5th May 2018. The company didn’t explain the move, but the existing affiliates weren’t affected and continue to earn commissions as usual.
Existing affiliates enjoy higher commissions. They earn up to 18% commission on select categories such as groceries, 10% on furniture, 8% on small appliances, 4% on large home appliances, and 0.1% on gold coins and gemstones.
Joining Flipkart Through Cuelinks
You can still become a Flipkart affiliate through Cuelinks, India’s largest affiliate marketplace. The site handles more than 1,000 campaigns from more than 20,000 publishers.
Cuelinks has a lower commission structure than the direct program and offers between 7.84% to 9.40%, depending on the product. That’s vastly different from commission rates listed on Flipkart’s website.
On the website categories, such Groceries and Furniture carry an 18% and a 10% commission, respectively.
However, Cuelinks’ Refer and Earn affiliate program pays affiliates 25% of the commission they earn for three months for each referral. You can join their affiliate program to make up for the lost affiliate income.
Should You Become a Flipkart Affiliate?
If your primary audience is in India, you should consider becoming a Flipkart affiliate. The eCommerce site has a massive following of more than 100 million users and an almost limitless inventory.
With the direct affiliate program closed indefinitely, you can only become a Flipkart affiliate through Cuelinks. Luckily, the affiliate marketplace boasts a fast and straightforward signup process.
Better yet, joining Cuelinks lets you access more than 1,000 affiliate campaigns from more than 20,000 publishers. Promoting more affiliate offers can help diversify and bolster your affiliate income.
The additional programs, some of which are likely to offer high commission rates, will help offset any revenue loss. Cuelinks pays Flipkart affiliates a lower commission than those listed on the site.
On the bright side, the affiliate marketplace can help you diversify your site’s offering and reduce your overreliance on one affiliate marketing program.
How to Grow Your Income as a Flipkart Affiliate
Although Flipkart targets the Indian market, the competition in the affiliate marketing scene remains high. Therefore, once you’re approved to join Flipkart’s affiliate program, you need to hit the ground running.
Following these tips will help grow your site’s online presence and improve your conversion rates:
- Polish your copywriting skills. Most people shopping on Flipkart are well educated and have an excellent command of the English language. Refining your copywriting skills will make you a hit with this target market. That will increase your site’s popularity with a target audience with a high purchasing power.
- Create quality content. Online visitors gravitate towards sites brimming with useful content. More than hunting for products, online shoppers look for helpful and informative content. Buyer’s guides, product reviews, tutorials, and how-to are some of the best content for online marketers.
- Build an email list. Creating an email list allows you to refine and streamline marketing efforts. It enables you to segregate your audience and launch successful email marketing campaigns. Email marketing increases your conversion rates and reduces the amount of competition you’re up against.
- Create video content. Human beings are visual creatures who would rather watch a video than read a lengthy how-to article. Peppering your affiliate website with helpful videos increases its popularity with your target audience. It also improves your site’s ranking in the search engine results pages.
- Refine your SEO skills. Most affiliate sites depend on organic traffic to drive page views. Polishing your SEO skills will help improve your site’s online visibility and push it to the top of the SERPs. Affiliate websites at the top of the SERPs get the lion’s share of the click-throughs and generate higher affiliate income.
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Conclusion
Flipkart’s affiliate program is worthwhile if your affiliate site targets the Indian market. The eCommerce store has more than 100 registered users, has a limitless inventory, and generated more than $4 billion in 2020.
Its affiliate programs offer generous affiliate commissions that vary between product categories. The most popular product categories fall in the 1% to 10% commission bracket.
Flipkart no longer accepts new affiliates, and you can only join the affiliate program through Cuelinks, India’s largest affiliate marketplace.