15 Niches in Which Merchants Benefit from Affiliate Marketing

Are you wondering if your business could benefit from an affiliate marketing program? The only case when it wouldn’t is if you are not present online and do not make your products or services available online or plan to do it in the near future.

Even then, you could apply some principles of affiliate marketing to boost your sales at your physical locations. As our very own Geno Prussakov explains in his book, Affiliate Program Management: An Hour A Day, affiliate marketing is universal.

Any Business Can Benefit From an Affiliate Marketing Program

The reason can be found in the very definition of affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is performance-based marketing in which the merchant rewards the affiliates for driving the desired actions, be they sales, clicks, subscriptions, etc., upon driving them. As a merchant, you define the types of actions you reward and by how much, and you only pay upon seeing the results, so you have nothing to lose. On the contrary, the benefits are numerous and valuable.

Main Affiliate Marketing Benefits for Merchants

You can review the most important of them in my previous blog post on the 10 Ways an Affiliate Marketing Program Benefits Your Brand. The most important ones to keep in mind are:

• Omnichannel marketing (content, video, social media, paid ads, etc. – affiliate marketing covers all channels)
• Fixed costs, easy to calculate and include in the price of the products or services you offer.
• Increased exposure for your brand and your products or services
• Ability to target larger markets, reach more prospects, and sell more
• SEO benefits (higher rank in SERPs, more traffic, more backlinks, etc.)

Do you still find it difficult to believe that an affiliate marketing program could bring you all the above benefits and more? There are other ways to assess if starting one is a good idea or not.

How to Assess If Your Business Can Benefit from Affiliate Marketing

If you still doubt that an affiliate program could benefit your business, a SWOTT analysis should help clear your doubts. I’ve already explained how you can conduct one in this post on competitive intelligence.

A faster and simpler method would be to simply look at what your competitors are doing. Search online for “your product affiliate program” and you will surely see that at least one of your competitors rewards referrals, traffic, or leads, one way or another.

And if that didn’t work either, or you just want more detailed information applied to the specifics of your business, drop a comment or contact us, and we will gladly help, no strings attached! I strongly believe that all online businesses can benefit from running an affiliate marketing program.

At AM Navigator, we have seen this happen for clients from various niches, from software and online service providers to product manufacturers, print companies, insurance providers, health and wellness companies, and more. If you browse our case studies and client testimonials, you may actually come across one of your main competitors.

However, it is true that, for some businesses, the benefits are easier to attain than for others. That is why the following part of this post will focus on the niches in which running an affiliate marketing program brings about the most benefits with the lowest efforts.

15 Niches in Which Merchants Can Benefit from Affiliate Marketing the Most

1. Fashion & Accessories

Whether you sell clothes, handbags, shoes, jewelry, or other fashion items, your business will surely benefit from an online program. Your competitors are already there, judging by the numbers. ShareASale alone lists no less than 875 programs in the Clothing category and 664 in the Accessories section (the numbers may have changed since the drafting of this post, but you get the message).

Top brands like Nordstrom, Baginc, Zappos, etc. are running successful affiliate programs, so why not follow their lead? You could have all types of affiliates, from shopping portals, price comparison engines, and cashback websites, to lifestyle bloggers, influencers, reviewers, and more.

2. Beauty

Women will always want to look at their best, and now they are turning to influencers, magazines, YouTube tutorials, and bloggers for advice and inspiration. Whether you sell makeup, cosmetics, fragrances, or any beauty-related services, all you have to do is turn the right marketers into your affiliates, and your sales will skyrocket. Checkout merchants like Sephora, Stowaway Cosmetics, or Black Opal, and you will begin to see what I’m talking about! If they did it, so can you, and, as mentioned above, you have nothing to lose by trying.

3. Health & Wellness

This is another niche in which affiliate marketing pays great results. More and more people take their health and wellness into their own hands and look for solutions to their problems online. Whether you’re selling supplements, medical devices, or some other products promising better health and well-being, affiliates can help you reach a wider audience.

We’ve obtained amazing results in the “sleep” niche and helped supplement manufacturers expand their business, so we know what we’re talking about. There are hundreds, if not thousands of potential affiliates out there ready to promote your brand. All you have to do is launch your affiliate program and reach out to them.

4. Home & Garden

People seem to be caught in an ongoing competition as to whose home or garden looks best and offers the most comfort, as they never stop renovating and decorating. They always look online for advice, inspiration, discounts, and more. Whatever you’re selling, there are surely affiliates who can help you spread the word and sell more. Merchants like SeedsNow, DollarTree, Sears Parts Direct, and others have already reached out to them. What are you waiting for?

5. Computers/Electronics/Technology/Software

Anything related to computers, technology, and the online sells better when endorsed by third-party reviews and celebrities, supported by comprehensive guides, video tutorials, and useful content, and, of course, subject to discounts or accompanied by vouchers, cashback, or other incentives.

You could have your products or services advertised by Neil Patel or reviewed on CNet, PCMag, or TechRadar. Hundreds of websites and social media channels could be featuring them and your only expenses would be those related to sales and/or leads commission. All you need is an affiliate program.

6. Food/Drink

Food and drink are no longer just a means to survive. But if you are in this niche, you already know that. They are health and wellness instruments, reasons to socialize, recreation opportunities, and pleasures in themselves. Gourmet and diet-based specialties are more popular than ever, and the online raves with cooking and lifestyle blogs and channels ready to promote your products and services.

Join merchants like Godiva, David’s Cookies, Chicago Steak Company, Home Bistro, Vinebox, and many others as soon as possible to share some of their success and see sales flowing! Whatever you’re selling, if it can be eaten, drank, or used to prepare food and drinks, you will easily benefit from an affiliate marketing program.

7. Sports/Fitness

Whether you’re selling sports outfits, fitness equipment, workouts, memorabilia, fitness apps, gym memberships, or weight loss solutions, you can surely benefit from an affiliate marketing program. Just look at SweatCoin, HealthyWage, Fitbit, and others!

8. Gifts

The more people have, the more difficult finding the right gifts for them becomes. No wonder everyone searches for ideas online. If your products or services can be offered as a gift, there is no better way to promote them than an affiliate program.

We’ve seen great results with Inktuitive, most subscription box services have thriving affiliate programs, and merchants like Book By You, eGifter, Design It Yourself Gift Baskets, and others are thriving as well.

9. Family

Although caught in their daily routine like in a whirlwind, everyone cares about their family, their needs, interest, and well-being. They search for the information, advice, and inspiration they need online, on websites they trust, social media groups, apps, etc. This means that, if your products or services cater to families, the most effective way to promote them is through affiliate marketing.

I will only give you one example but it should be more than sufficient: EverydayFamily. They make money from affiliate marketing, promoting various family-targeted products and services (see their Disclosure and Affiliates pages), and they run their own affiliate program. You could surely use an affiliate like them or their hundreds of affiliates.

10. Art/Music/Photography

Millennials have helped create an experiences-centered economy in which art, music, photography, books, and everything related to them can and should thrive. According to a Harris poll:

• 78% of millennials prefer to spend money on experiences and events than on objects
• 55% already spend more than ever on live experiences and events
• 72% plan to increase their experience-related spending
• 77% believe that experiences help them shape their identity and create life-long memories.

Under the circumstances, if you sell art, music, photography, tickets to related events, or products or services that help to create experiences of any kind, you have a huge market to conquer and no excuse not to do it. An affiliate marketing program can help you get hundreds of marketers to promote you on all or most marketing channels.

11. Travel & Recreation

This is another experience-focused niche in which merchants can benefit from affiliate marketing. Just look at Booking.com, Outdoorsy, TripAdvisor, CityPass, etc.! Wouldn’t you like to have your products or services promoted by Nomadic Matt and others like him? With an affiliate marketing program in place, you can.

12. Business

If you’re in the B2B sector and you still doubt that affiliate marketing would benefit your business, the following stats will help you reconsider.

• 90% of B2B buyers admit that online content has a moderate to major influence on their purchasing decisions.
• 84% VPs and CEOs use social media when making purchasing decisions.
• 80% of decision-makers prefer to obtain information on potential suppliers from articles rather than from ads.
• 63% of buyers need to hear the seller’s claims between three and five times before actually believing them.
• By the time they actively engage with sales, B2B buyers have already made 57% of their decision.
• 63% of buyers think that marketing campaigns trying to force prospect attention are a waste of time.

These being said, can you afford to turn your back on the possibility of having hundreds of marketers promoting your products or services using all the means and channels available (only those you approve, of course)?

13. Games / Toys / Books / Media

I don’t know about you but I choose the books I read and the movies I watch based on reviews. And when I see a toy that I think my daughters would like, I check reviews to find out if it’s safe and worth the price. And it’s not just me.

Apparently, 70% of consumers prefer user recommendations and reviews to professionally written content, and user-generated content increasingly dominates web content. Therefore, no matter what you’re selling, it would help to get your buyers to further recommend their products or services.

The best way to do that is by inviting them to join your affiliate program. It is unlikely that they will invest time and effort into promoting you if there is nothing in it for them. Moreover, you do not want to pay for reviews or recommendations that may not drive any sales.

14. Rewards / Incentives / Freebies

Do you offer any type of freebies, rewards, or incentives? Then all you need in order to thrive is an affiliate marketing program. It will help spread the word about your business, and, since there’s something to gain for everyone involved, you are sure to see great results. If you have doubts, just look at Honey, Ibotta, and CleverGiver.

15. Education

As a content writer, throughout the years, I wrote about Kaplan, Babbel, ClassesandCareers.com, and many other programs, products, and services in the education niche. I know for a fact that my clients made money from promoting them, which means those merchants benefitted from their affiliate programs as well. Why not follow their lead? We’ve already discussed the benefits at stake, and you have nothing to lose.

What’s Your Niche? Let’s Assess Affiliate Marketing Opportunities!

Do your products or services fall into any of the niches above? Even if they do not, it does not mean that your business cannot benefit from an affiliate marketing program. Give us a few more details about your business in a comment or by email and we’ll offer you new growth perspectives!