VENDO’s Affiliate Program Drives 27% of Amazon Sales in 90 Days

Apr 22, 2025

Metrics

+60%

affiliate-driven sales in just 3 months

27%

of Amazon sales directly attributed to affiliate program

$3.92

ROAS

2.24x

ROI

$2>$3.50

Prime Day
ROAs Improvement YoY

17%

Increase
in Shipped Revenue YoY

#3

Organic Ranking on
‘Protein Powder’

6

Products Moved
to Page 1

Context

This year, we saw performance impacted by a few variables never before experienced.

Firstly, we saw the COVID e-commerce spike trend down a bit, which was indicated by consumers falling back to in-store shopping on Black Friday at a higher rate. As a result, Sunday and Cyber Monday performed the best of the 5-day main event, which runs from Thanksgiving Thursday to Cyber Monday. Black Friday still saw a lift but not as profound as the last couple of years.

Secondly, Amazon ran 2 Prime Day events in the same year for the 1st time ever, with the 2nd event, “Prime Early Access Sale” (dubbed Fall Prime Day), occurring in October only about 5-6 weeks before Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions began. Because of this, consumers got a head start on their holiday shopping earlier than ever.

Third, there was a mass Amazon Advertising Console technical glitch, resulting in underspending on Black Friday.

Nevertheless, VENDO was able to deliver on wins for its brand partners as detailed below.

Context

A lifestyle/home brand approached VENDO in Q3 with a goal: to revamp its underperforming Amazon affiliate program. The brand’s passive approach—allowing affiliates to self-generate links without structure or engagement—led to stagnant growth and missed revenue opportunities ahead of key Q4 tentpole events like Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM).

Tactics

VENDO stepped in late October, moving quickly to get the brand onboarded ahead of the holiday rush. The strategy: launching a structured, data-driven affiliate marketing program with a strong focus on proactive recruitment, affiliate enablement, and performance tracking.

Data-Driven Planning: VENDO collaborated with our affiliate partners to analyze historical performance, including average Amazon monthly sales, AOV, and ROAS. From this data, VENDO developed a 6–9 month forecast with clear benchmarks and revenue goals.

Aggressive Holiday Recruitment: VENDO kicked off a 90-day activation campaign, scaling affiliate recruitment across multiple networks and marketplaces. Kept commission rates high (30%) to incentivize participation during the competitive holiday season, knowing the brand’s products were ideal for gift-giving and January’s “New Year, New You” themes.

Affiliate Onboarding at Scale: Sourced ~100 new affiliates daily, equipping each with a creative brief and access to a curated asset library for easy, brand-aligned content creation and promotion.

Sustained Engagement & Support: Maintained affiliate momentum through bi-weekly newsletters and product updates to strengthen relationships and drive long-term program success.

Conclusion

As a result, VENDO drove a 60% increase in affiliate-driven sales in just three months—compared to the previous 10-month total. Within that same window, 27% of total Amazon sales were directly attributed to the affiliate program. By month three, the program delivered a 3.92 ROAS and a 2.24 ROI, outpacing our forecasted benchmarks.

With a strategic approach, clear communication, and high-touch affiliate management, VENDO transformed a stagnant affiliate program into a high-performing revenue channel—just in time for the brand’s most critical sales season.