Founded in Germany, Adidas is the 2nd-largest sportswear manufacturer in the world. (Nike is #1.) The brand is well-known for its athletic shoes but today manufactures a wide variety of sports apparel for men, women, and children. In 2022, Adidas ranked #16 on Global RepTrak, making them the highest-ranked brand doing business in the active lifestyle category. Interestingly, Jesse Owens, the star track athlete from the 1936 Olympics, brought Adidas international recognition after winning 4 gold medals while wearing Adidas sneakers. (He thus became the first athlete ever sponsored by a shoe company!) Adidas offers an affiliate marketing program that is considered one of the best in their space, with high commissions and several excellent benefits. If you'd like to know more about the Adidas affiliate program, we have the details and data laid out for you below! Read on to discover if they're a match for your current affiliate marketing goals.
Like any affiliate program, the first thing you need to do to become an Adidas affiliate is to fill out the application form with all the pertinent details. Name, address, phone number, etc. The best place to do that in the United States is on the Adidas affiliate page hosted by Impact, their 3rd-party affiliate partner.
As with all affiliate programs, when you apply, Adidas (Impact) will ask for information about the platforms and promotional methods you will use to promote their products. They accept a variety of promotional methods, from email to blogs, content marketing, social media pages, YouTube channels, etc. It's crucial you have at least one marketing channel, if not several, when you apply. Here is a quick list of what you'll need when you apply as an Adidas affiliate:
• Name, address, phone number, and email address.
• Company information.
• The country where you are going to operate. (Adidas has affiliate programs in many, especially in Europe where they were founded.)
• The type of promotional methods you will use to promote Adidas products.
• The URL of your website(s).
• The name of your social media page(s).
As one of the premier sports and apparel brands in the world, you can bet that Adidas isn't going to approve all affiliate applications. Their goal is to partner with affiliates who represent their brand in a positive, family-friendly light. They look for established affiliates and use high-quality marketing methods (never spam) to attract traffic to their pages and social media. Below are a few methods you can (and should) use to be accepted into the Adidas affiliate program:
1. High-quality Content. Whatever method you use to promote Adidas products, whether a blog, social media page, or YouTube channel, Adidas wants to see that your content is engaging, well executed, and well written. That's especially true if you're using a website and publishing reviews, pro & con lists, comparison reviews, etc
2. An email domain attached to your company or website. One of the best ways to not get approved for any affiliate marketing program is to use an email address from Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail. What Adidas looks for is an email address connected to your domain name. For example, if your website is The Sneaker Guy, an email address from your domain would look like [email protected].
3. A marketing plan. While they might not ask, if they do, Adidas and Impact will want to see that you have a plan for promoting their products using whatever channels you choose. Creating a 1-year plan to show them is highly recommended.
4. An attractive, well-designed website, YouTube channel, or social media page. This factor is essential as these platforms are where visitors will interact with you, see Adidas products, and, hopefully, click links to make purchases.
5. Be available to answer questions if Adidas (Impact) contacts you. A working phone number that you answer without fail is critical. So is a working email that you check and respond to often.
There are several excellent reasons to join the Adidas affiliate program, one of which is their wide range of products. Of course, their footwear is the big draw, but Adidas also has a scope of other high-quality products they manufacture for adults and children. Some of the excellent products you can earn commissions for promoting include:
• Footwear. Adidas footwear line includes running shoes, sneakers, sandals, football and basketball shoes, and several more.
• Men's clothing. Adidas has a wide range of quality men's clothing, including football jerseys, tank tops, T-shirts, and their in-house brand, Adidas Originals.
• Women's clothing. For women, Adidas offers just as many clothing items, including leggings, track pants, sports bras, T-shirts, etc.
• Children's clothing. The Adidas brand includes many different items for children, including footwear, clothing, accessories, and several more.
• Accessories. From backpacks to face covers, gym bags, socks, and headwear, Adidas has a wide variety of trendy accessories you can promote.
While it's difficult to find exact information on the commission structure Adidas uses, in the United States, using Impact.com to sign up, you would earn 7% commissions on all eligible products sold via your promotional pages and platforms. While not specifically related to commissions, Adidas and Impact provide several benefits to their affiliate marketers to help them significantly increase their affiliate earnings, including:
• Recuuring Transactions. If someone purchases an Adidas product through your affiliate link, you will also get commissions on the next 3 purchases they make.
• Adidas offers a 30-day cookie. If one of your visitors, followers or fans clicks a link to an Adidas product through your page or platform, you will get a commission for that item if they purchase it within the next 30 days. It's one of the best cookie referrals in the affiliate market.
• You get paid every 2 weeks, which is good. (Some affiliate programs pay weekly, others pay monthly.)
All affiliate programs boil down to one thing when it comes to earning commissions; numbers. The higher the number of visitors you get and the higher the amount who click your links, the higher your income will be, and vice versa. This reality is why having a high-quality website, YouTube channel, or social media page is important. When you do, you'll get more traffic, leading to more clicks and sales. Below is a quick look at how to make $1000 a month with the Adidas affiliate program using their Ultraboost 22 Men's Running shoes, which retail for $190.00 US.
• Product ($190.00) x 7% Commission = $13.00 profit per sale. (Approximately)
• 77 sales x $13.00 per sale = $1001.00
To generate 77 customers to purchase in a month with a 1% conversion rate, you would need 7700 visitors per month to your website or social channel.
• 7,700 visitors x 1% conversion rate = 77 sales x $13.00 commission per sale = $1001.00
If you had a 2% conversion rate, you could make the same $1000.00 commission but with only 3,350 visitors to your website.
• 3,350 visitors x 2% conversion rate = 77 sales x $13.00 commission per sale = $1001.00
If you were selling Adidas' NMD R1 Running Shoes for Women, a product that retails for $150.00, you would need several more sales to reach $1000.
• Product ($150.00) x 7% Commission = $10.50 profit per sale.
• 96 Sales x $10.50 per sale = $1008.00
One of the most important factors to remember with any affiliate marketing program, including Adidas, is the need to create engaging, informative, and interesting content. The platform you use doesn't matter as much as the content. For example, high-quality, well-written, and well-researched articles are a must if you're a blogger. For a YouTube channel, entertaining and engaging videos are essential. The same goes for social media pages and any other platform you use to promote Adidas products. The higher the quality of your content and the information it delivers to your visitors, the more visitors will click on your links and purchase Adidas products, increasing your earnings with every click.
• Excellent brand recognition.
• Free to join.
• 30-day Cookie. (One of the best in the affiliate market.)
• Recurring commissions on the next 3 sales.
• 7% commissions on all eligible sales.
• Generous and engaging marketing materials
• Largest sportswear company in Europe, #2 in the world.
• Thousands of quality products.
• Regional affiliate programs. For example, if you're in the US, you can't promote Adidas in Europe, and vice-versa.
• High competition.
There are, to be sure, many sportswear brands on the market today, many of which are almost as popular as Adidas. However, few have the same generous affiliate terms as Adidas, although some come close. If Adidas isn't for you for some reason, the following sports and apparel brands might be a better fit.
• Nike
• Under Armor
• Sneaker World
• Foot Locker
• Lululemon