Replace Active Retail Site with Affliate Feeds

Going from retail to affliate Is this a good idea

[minorleague]

Our business is at a crossroads. We have done very well with organic search positions, and do get lots of traffic. The business is very competitve. We are considering leveraging the organic search positions with a competitor who has greater selections and better pricing by using their affliate feeds on our site.

We would convert from retail to affliate. There is some sense in considering this. The conversion rate is greater at the competitor
site and it would remove major site maintenance on our side.

We do not know anything about affliate marketing. What are the downsides to doing this. Will we loose our organic positions
if we do this. Will the search engines punish us when the purchasing link goes to another site. Is there a way to get an affliate feed and not loose organic positions.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[vincevincevince]

If at all possible, find a way to have your competitor's cart on your site and keep the checkout there. Keep the brand, keep it working, and keep it on site.

Consider also the value of your site as it is financially. Moving to affiliate is a big risk, and you might be as well to find an appropriate buyer for your established retail operation, and reinvest some of the funds in starting afresh on the affiliate promotion system.

[minorleague]

Your logic makes sense to me. I think what you are saying is the
more that is kept on our site the greater chance we will have have
of holding onto our positions.

Thanks for yout input

[minorleague]

"If at all possible, find a way to have your competitor's cart on your site and keep the checkout there. Keep the brand, keep it working, and keep it on site."

Is this just a wish or are there affliate programs out there that
are set up to do this

[vincevincevince]

Is this just a wish or are there affliate programs out there that ...

That's something you need to sort out with the other company directly. As you have a good reason (established traffic, brand, etc.) and provided their technical team know which way is up, there's a good chance you will get help to do that.

One solution I've used in the past where full integration has not been possible is to talk to their tech guys about a way to have the 'add to cart' button on the affiliate site actually 'add to cart' on the real site and either return to the affiliate site until going back again for 'checkout' (at which point the cart is indeed filled as requested) or just stay at the main site but be on the checkout/basket page with the item added.

[minorleague]

Thanks

I am not a tech person but I understand the logic to what you are saying. I appreciate your response. It tells me there is probably a way to do this if we decide to go down that path.