affiliate marketing blog  

First GAN Changes, then Ebay Changes, now Pepperjam Changes…  Like we stated in yesterdays blogpost it’s the 4th Quarter.  We expect things to shake at the beginning of the 4th Quarter.  And shake it has.

GSI Commerce has bought Pepperjam Network.  That’s a big deal.  GSI has ecommerce customers like Dicks Sporting Goods, ACE Hardware, and the NFL.  The Pepperjam network isn’t just any old network either.  They cover affiliate network management, are a network, have a SEO division and more.  And Pepperjam also boasts customers like Teleflora, Lifelock, and even Jelly Belly.

So what does this all mean?  Well, a further consolidation is underway is for certain.  And the move to integrate Advertising, Network, Ecommerce, and Promotion under a single umbrella continues.  Now this in and of itself isn’t a bad thing necessarily.  I mean, come on…  MediaTrust kind of led the way here and Peter Bordes and company run a seriously good operation.

The big unknown here is what is GSI going to do?  They state some fairly obvious things in their press release.  And with some of the “big hitters” GSI already has for clients it would seem logical that if they gain their own network they would be able to bring an awful lot of affiliates to their current customers, gain the ability to create new affiliate programs for their existing ecommerce sites, and offer a more complete package to existing Pepperjam affiliates and merchants.

One thing is for certain…  This is one to keep a close eye on.  There are thousands of affiliates who rely on Pepperjam for a great many programs.  Everyone in the affiliate marketing industry (that’s you more than likely) is looking forward to Q4 and the Christmas season.  If GSI wants to leverage the Pepperjam acquisition for the 4th quarter they have to move fast.  We’ll see if they do, or if they have other ideas we don’t know about yet.