The way b2b products are sold is changing. It used to be that in the b2b technology space you'd have distributors, dealers, VAR's, resellers - all taking a piece of the margins and creating a high cost channel structure that required inventory, warehousing, shipping, and so on.

If a vendor wanted to enter a new market, they would have to find local partners, check out their facilities, negotiate exclusivity, and haggle on minimum order requirements. This approach is risky and results in many failed market entry attempts. 

Often the vendor becomes too dependent on the local partner, and control of the customer relationship is often ceded to them as well. 

I know because I used to work in the telecom industry and also as an international trade commissioner. 

But using the affiliate marketing concept, many of these roadblocks to going global can be eliminated.

The benefits of having affiliates are:

• pay for performance, so you only pay when a sale is made
• vendor-customer relationship is improved, since the vendor is selling direct to the customer
• reduced distribution cost - no need for shipping and stocking at the dealers, just drop ship direct to the customer from HQ or from your own warehouse
• using 2 tier affiliate tracking, you can have your affiliates do much of  the affiliate recruiting for you
• less chance of market lockup/exclusivity hassles, since the model is based on pay for performance
• the latest marketing techniques can be used, since the super affiliates keep on top of the leading edge pay-per-click and other traffic generation methods
• extreme viral sales and distribution channel growth potential as affiliates from around the world drive traffic direct back to the vendor's site, bringing more affiliates and more customers

A new advertising system from the UK is being launched this way.

The product is a broadcasting "pod" which a local business such as a bar, nightclub, restaurant, hair salon, sporting facility, or even a store in a shopping mall, can use to attract more customers ... and sell more to the ones inside.

For example you could have a restaurant offering "kids eat free" coupons that are broadcast to the passersby. Or a nightclub could promote tomorrow's DJ and offer a VIP guest pass code.

The ads are broadcast for free to any Bluetooth enabled wireless devices within a certain distance of the "pod". There's no network fees involved - so once you've invested in a "pod" for your business, the ROI can be substantial.

Let's say you're a nightclub owner and you send out an ad each night to your guests, advertising a drink special, and you make even just $100 more in additional alcohol revenue on say Thursday/Friday/Saturday, after 1 month of 3 nights/week for 4 weeks that's $1200.00 in extra revenue...per month

For a creative club, the investment in a pod can pay back in less than 1 month. 

At the moment the company is quite UK and Europe focused, but clever affiliates can sign up for free now and scoop some sales plus make some nice commissions.

Also US and Canadian entrepreneurs who see the potential for increased revenue for *their* business using these pods, can order today.

The pricing is all in UK pounds, but it gets converted on your credit card. 

Using an advanced affiliate strategy and affiliate marketing software, I think this company is going to grow extremely fast so get on board the train today - as either a customer or an affiliate ... or both! 

To learn more about this new product, and to order or join as an affiliate, visit this site.

To learn more about affiliate strategy for merchants, subscribe to my free newsletter. 

--- (Edited on 3/15/2008 4:29 pm [GMT-0500] by Peter) ---