How a UK publication captures shoppers at the point of inspiration

british newspaper The Independent has always been a bit rebellious. Founded in 1986 despite skepticism about whether the UK needed another national newspaper, The Independent has been aptly named for more than 30 years now. In 2016, it became Britain’s first national newspaper to move fully onlineand now it is among the first publishing media to use a new technology that transforms its articles into vehicles of commerce.

Like many other publications, India (as readers call it) has worked with brands and retailers for years through affiliate marketing relationships, primarily on its reviews section IndyBest. Tucked away in articles on where to find a dress like Kate Middleton’s or the 10 best smart home devices are links to sites where readers can buy the products in question. Now readers can purchase some of these items directly from The Independentright there on the publication’s website.

“Since going digital in 2016, we’ve always been looking for innovative ways to serve our readers,” said Campbell Price, director of e-commerce at The Independent in an interview with Retail Touch Points. “[IndyBest] has traditionally been driven by affiliate revenue, and while that’s great, it’s an extra step to gaining a deeper relationship with that audience. We see that [new integration] as a way to go a little further with our most engaged readers.”

The new offer is powered by Bolt crate everywhere solution (originally called Tipser until it was acquired by Bolt in late 2021), which allows websites of all kinds to add transaction capabilities and sell products from participating merchants. “We are moving the “buy” button and the entire checkout in the surface where inspiration strikes, instead of sending readers to other stores“, explained Marcus Jacobsson, co-founder of Tipser and now vice president of Checkout Everywhere at Bolt in an interview with Retail Touch Points. “This makes it easier for services and publishers like The Independent to open their own stores with full inventory, but without actually holding that inventory.

Integration to The Independent launched in September 2022 with a set of participating brands including Day of the week, MARKET, Panda, Facegym, Love mark & ​​Co. and Molton Brownand more are on the way, according to Price: “As we build this list of merchants, which we are constantly working on, we will continue to increase the number of links that pass through the Bolt solution rather than passing them on to affiliates.

Social commerce meets affiliate marketing

The IndependentThe move is another sign that e-commerce has officially overtaken the store’s website; consumers increasingly expect so you can make a purchase when and where inspiration strikes, whether on social networks, when streaming videos or directly in search engines. So it’s no surprise that publishers want to get in on the action too.

Here’s how it works on IndyBest: Readers discover products through editorial reviews and can click a “Buy Now” button right in the article. A PDP (Product Detail Page) pop-up opens where they can add items to their cart and then return to reading or checkout. “So compared to the traditional affiliate journey, where they go to the site that sells the product and complete the journey there, they will complete everything on that article page,” Price explained. “When they close the checkout they are back on the item if they want to continue shopping or reading or doing something else.

Users can also directly access the IndyBest storefront to shop all available items in one place. Bolt then sends the order to the brand or merchant for fulfillment: “We integrate with the merchant’s fulfillment system, and it appears like any other online order,” Jacobsson said. “Then the merchant takes over for fulfillment, logistics, etc.”

“The beauty for us is that we have Bolt as a middleman to centralize customer service and all of those things so that we can maintain consistency in this relationship and experience with our readers across all different merchants and make sure they get the best service,” Price added.

Another plus point for The Independent won higher commissions only through affiliate links. “The Bolt solution goes one step further [than affiliate links], because there is no doubt about our role in generating this sale,” Price said. “And because the sale comes directly from us, we are able to negotiate significantly higher commissions with the brands we work with.”

“From a brand perspective, it’s also very exciting because they see biggest sales than the affiliate solution,” added Jacobsson. “They also really appreciate the stronger editor endorsement, and because it’s clearly endorsed, it’s also very easy to manage – there’s [not the level of] negotiations that you see in advertising because they are performance-based. This is a new sales channel that The Independent opens up to the brands they select.”

This does not necessarily mean the end of affiliate marketing. Price said he still believes in the model and that IndyBest will still have many affiliate links, in part because the Bolt solution can only be implemented with brands that have integrated with Bolt. Even for products with Bolt integration, Price said articles will still include price comparisons and other ways to buy, but “we hope our readers will want to help support the journalism they read and whom they trust, and [as a result] we will see higher conversion through the Bolt checkout.

Part of that is educating readers about that “Buy Now” button and what it means. The Independent do it with a dedicated page explaining the Bolt partnership to readers. “Explaining it to our audience is part of the journey for us,” Price said. “While we think people will trust this trip and want to do it with us, it’s a new, different thing, so we take the time to educate them about what partnership is, how it works and what it means to them.”

Opening a new trade channel

Whereas The Independent may be among the first publications to implement onsite commerce in this way, it’s a safe bet that others will follow closely: Meredith’s titles seem poised for this type of integration following the company’s acquisition by SEO-focused digital publisher Dotdash; and Hearst recently appointed its first-ever Global Chief Revenue Officer, tasked with leading the company’s international business division as it “accelerates its digital transformation.”

It’s all part of an ongoing blurring of the lines between content and commerce; In fact, now that the moment of transaction is no longer relegated to commerce-centric environments, the very idea of ​​who a retailer can be has grown exponentially.

“What I like about the commercial offer here is that it’s super transparent for the consumer“, Jacobsson said. “the independent, in this case, has selected products that he likes and approves of, and which he sells on his site. In the world of advertising, everything is a gray area. For example, are the banners on a publisher’s site approved by the publisher or are they just placed there by programmatic automation? It’s clear to me [differentiator] here – we power publishers’ stores, where publishers have selected the products they want to recommend to their readers. It is an active choice and the offer is very clear to the consumerr. »

Indeed, in the case of The Independentthe publication itself is listed as a retailer for products available directly on its site, though all fulfillment and delivery is handled by the brand, with Bolt as the go-between.

“Even before affiliates, the line has always been, not blurred, but there has always been a little [of this] in terms of what people are selling and why people are talking about it,” Price admitted. “Technology like Bolt’s has clarified what it is, why we do it, and the benefits for the reader and for us. It’s just a much more transparent way of doing something that’s been around for a very long time.”

This kind of transparency is becoming increasingly important as consumers become more familiar with digital interactions and how their data is used. “I think it’s a response to cookie legislation and some of that data sharing that’s often hidden away,” Jacobsson added. “This is a solution for brands and publishers to solve this problem.”

Which begs the question, who gets the data in these transactions? The answer is both; brands and sites win not only financially, but also through the increasingly valuable asset of first-party consumer data. The website, in this case The Independent, obtains additional information about its readers, including behavioral data. The brand partner gets all the information needed to fulfill the order – so not the full customer profile, but still some pretty useful information like name and address.

As for Price, that’s just the beginning of “how we can use the same trust we generate from our journalism to drive transactional commerce.” The publication is currently considering expanding similar offerings to other verticals such as hotel reviews and travel“We’re looking forward to building this partnership and seeing what else we can do around it,” Price said. “I think it opens some interesting doors that we still need to explore around diversifying a product offering outside of the specific articles we’re writing right now.”