Awin Enables £18 Million Micro-SME Boost During the Pandemic via Its New Entry-Level Affiliate Service

One year on from the launch of its new solution dedicated to small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups, Awin has revealed the sectors that have signed up to the platform during the pandemic, generating more than £18m in sales from 270,000 transactions.

Micro-SMEs in the health & beauty, home & garden and clothing sectors were three biggest groups in terms of sign-ups during the pandemic.

In the second half of 2020 there was almost triple the number of small businesses in the eco-friendly sector launching affiliate programmes compared to the first half.

Summer of 2020 had the most new signs ups as businesses started to pivot their offering due to negative changes to high street retail because of the pandemic.

Having launched Awin Access – a solution dedicated to small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups – in January 2020, the global affiliate network www.Awin.com has analysed data from the past year to see which sectors have been using the platform the most and thriving, despite the pandemic.

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The entry-level solution was most popular amongst small businesses in the health & beauty sector who turned to ecommerce during the pandemic, with more than double the number of signups than any other sector, accounting for 22% of all micro-SMEs using the solution.

The sectors that used Awin Access the most in 2020 were as follows:

1. Health & Beauty (accounting for 22% of all new sign ups in 2020)
2. Home & Garden (9%)
3. Clothing (8.5%)
4. Jewellery (6%)
5. Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) (5%)

When looking at the various lockdowns, it was found that the health & beauty and home & garden sectors were the strongest performers at the start of the first lockdown in March, while the largest number of launches in November were in the clothing, hair & beauty and jewellery sectors.

Michelle O’Sullivan, Business Development Director UK at www.Awin.com, said:

“Based on the success of the solution in the UK market, Awin Access is set to scale rapidly in 2021, propelled by the expedited launches mid to late last year within other markets including: Benelux, France, Italy, Spain, DACH, Eastern Europe and the Nordics. This small business segment makes up 93% of businesses within the EU, a significant 23 million brands, most of which are looking at how they can effectively shift to be successful operating largely or purely online within the ongoing pandemic crisis. The Awin Access team have a number of initiatives to further automate processes and that will guide and educate to allow these programmes to see their full potential.”

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The month that saw the highest number of small businesses launching on the Awin Access solution was November, during the second national lockdown, which saw 18% of all launches in the year.

To find out which sectors emerged the most throughout the year, the team looked at the small businesses that signed up in the first half of 2020 (H1) vs. the second (H2). There was a 525% increase in small business signups in the clothing sector in H2 vs. H1, while there was also a notable increase in SMEs in the eco-friendly sector, almost tripling in the second half of the year.

In terms of Awin Access as a whole, since the start of lockdown in 2020, it has generated £18m in sales revenue for small businesses from 270,000 transactions, with 5.9 million website visitors driven and more than 22 million brand impressions.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday statistics shows that just under £1m* was generated in sales revenues for Awin Access retailers via nearly 10,000 transactions.

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