The final quarter of 2023 is in full swing. The upcoming holidays provide both heightened competition and the opportunity for brands to earn a significant percentage of their annual revenues. For this holiday season, Insider Intelligence predicts an 11.3% growth in retail ecommerce sales and less than 3.0% for brick-and-mortar. Mobile sales will also come out on top, with an anticipated growth of nearly 15% YoY.

During the season of giving, one gift that retailers can truly bank on is partnerships. Partnerships provide a host of benefits that can make the holiday season considerably more profitable. 

Let's briefly unwrap why retailer partnerships are a gift that keeps giving to retailers this holiday season.

1. Extended reach and exposure

Partnerships extend beyond a retailer’s immediate audience, with affiliate partners, bloggers, and influencers promoting products to those of their followers who are actively seeking holiday gifts and deals. This expanded exposure allows retailers to connect with potential customers through the trust and credibility established by their partners.

2. Cost-effective marketing

Partnerships offer a cost-effective marketing solution during the holiday season, a time of increased marketing expenses. Retailers pay publisher partners based on performance, which optimizes marketing spending and ensures a positive ROI.

3. Enhanced credibility and trust

Seen as trusted sources of information, publisher partners endorse products and provide credibility. Consumers’ trust in these endorsements, recommendations, and reviews is essential during the holiday shopping season and influences purchasing decisions. A recent study conducted by Gen3 made one thing clear: Consumers are more likely to make a purchase when it's recommended by someone they trust, leading to increased conversion rates for retailers.

4. Diverse audience targeting

Partnerships enable retailers to reach a broader, more diverse audience. Collaborating with partners from various niches allows retailers to target audiences through different channels, tactics, and mediums. A diverse audience targeting approach is particularly effective during holidays when consumers have varied interests and gifting needs.

5. Scalability and flexibility

With the holiday season characterized by changing demands and consumer behaviors, partnerships offer scalability and flexibility. Retailers can adapt partnership strategies based on real-time data in order to remain responsive to market dynamics.

6. Data-driven insights

Partnerships provide valuable data and consumer behavior insights. Retailers can track performance metrics like clickthrough rates, conversion rates, and even customer demographics. Retailers can track even greater insights on a per-partner basis—including by which items or SKUs are selling, profit margin, and new versus repeat customers. This data supports informed decision-making, strategy refinement, and effective resource allocation.

7. Risk mitigation

The holiday season has high stakes for retailers due to substantial inventory and marketing investments. The performance-based compensation model of partnerships helps to mitigate these risks. Retailers can align affiliate spending with actual sales, which minimizes the risk of overcommitting resources.

Partnerships offer retailers extended reach, cost-effective marketing, enhanced credibility, diverse audience targeting, scalability, data-driven insights, and risk mitigation. Partnerize has found that while the channel consistently delivers a 12:1 return on ad spend, leveraging partnerships for profitable growth can help retailers unwrap the holiday season’s full potential and delight customers with the perfect gifts—all while enjoying a boost in their own bottom line.

—Maura Smith, CMO, Partnerize