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By Alex Cramer
Whether you’re buying socks or a new TV, we all want the best deal on any purchase we make. That’s why we spend so much time going down rabbit holes in search of coupons and promo codes and trying to price compare everything we buy online. It’s a time-consuming process that frequently takes us to discount codes that don’t work or websites that we don’t know if we can trust.
That’s why Advertise Purple partnered with Capital One Shopping, a free program available to Capital One cardholders that takes the guesswork out of comparison shopping and can instantly scan over 30,000 different retailers to find the best prices for any product in a matter of seconds. It even checks shipping fees and member pricing so you don’t get hit with any hidden costs and in 2020 alone, the program was able to save shoppers over $160 million.
The easy-to-use program will quickly scan the web for any product and provide you with a link to the website with the lowest price. Then, when you’re about to check out, it will automatically search for and apply any coupons it can find.
Finally, Capital One Shopping offers one more valuable perk: loyalty rewards. Shoppers can earn credits for buying from popular retailers and then redeem those credits for gift cards. So even when the price comparison tool can’t get you a better deal, you can still earn extra for the money you spend.
It’s easy to see why we value our relationship with Capital One Shopping and have successfully placed hundreds of Advertise Purple clients onto their network.
We spoke with Ben Stein, who manages client partnerships for Capital One Shopping to get his take on online shopping trends, his expectations for e-commerce in 2022 and how to keep your sales high in Q1.
Hi Ben! Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. What drew you to work in the affiliate marketing space? What do you find most interesting about it?
I’m very excited about the growth taking place at Capital One Shopping and the work we do to help brands grow in these tough times. Affiliate Marketing has solidified itself as a viable channel and we’re excited to innovate in a space that will help brands of all sizes grow.
In a competitive marketplace, what’s the unique value that Capital One offers to consumers?
The Capital One Shopping suite of products offers consumers ways to save money and discover new brands in a personalized shopping experience. The key to the success of our program is that we focus on building strong partnerships with our merchants and providing them with the best tools to grow their businesses and maintain strong relationships with their customers.
How do you typically decide which brands and offers to promote for your user base?
We love to work with brands of all sizes and pass on savings to our over ten million Capital One Shoppers. If a brand is new to affiliate marketing or is looking to diversify its customer acquisition channels, our team looks forward to working with the brand to position them for success and achieve its goals.
In your time with Capital One, what are some of the most important things you’ve learned about consumer shopping trends?
I’ve learned that consumers are savvier than ever. Capital One Shopping is checking over 5 billion items to save our customers money daily, and our shoppers are taking advantage of savings through our tools such as Price Comparison to find the best price on brands they love from our vast network of merchant partners.
What are some of the verticals that you’ve seen have the most success on your network? Why do you think they’ve been able to thrive?
We have seen growth across our entire portfolio of merchants, and I truly think our tools are what have enabled our brands to grow and thrive. We take pride in delivering incremental value to merchants, as well as a smooth shopping journey for their customers.
Consumer behavior is constantly evolving, growing and changing. What are some of the major initiatives you have planned for 2022?
We look forward to driving more growth for our merchants and more savings for our customers in 2022 by not only understanding the needs of both, but by providing personalized shopping experiences to connect customers to merchants. We are working to continually refine our personalization algorithm within our Cardholder Offers experience, and we will be rolling out additional optimization opportunities within our Capital One Shopping mobile app. As our product roadmap evolves, we look forward to growing with our Advertise Purple merchant partners.
How are you projecting the market for e-commerce overall in 2022? Are there any new trends that stand out to you?
Mobile shopping is here to stay. I believe the market will stay strong in 2022 and continue to evolve as more consumers are purchasing through various mediums.
Q1 can be a tricky time to drive sales after the holiday season shopping spree. What are some strategies to avoid having a sales dip once the holidays are over?
Capitalize on the momentum from Q4 and ensure that you’re keeping your customer base engaged. A natural sales dip will occur, however, we believe that if you are connecting with customers across all acquisition channels and meeting customers where they are, then you will see strong results.
What’s your experience been like working with Advertise Purple?
Advertise Purple is one of the top agency partners to Capital One Shopping. They’ve been great to work with on collaboration and growth for our merchants. Ad Purp always brings growth-oriented solutions to our relationships and we look forward to more success in the future.
Thanks for the chat, Ben! Capital One Shopping offers great deals and tools for both consumers and brands, and we’re excited to continue to grow our relationship with them.
