One of America's favorite retailers, Target, has stores across the United States. In fact, Target is so large approximately 75% of Americans are within 10 miles of a Target store! Target has been around since 1962, although its parent company was founded in 1902. Today, Target stores carry a massive range of products from household goods to toys, clothing, electronics, tools, food, and furniture. Target offers an affiliate program, their Target Partners Program, with several excellent features and benefits. In the detailed review below, you'll discover everything you need to know about Target's affiliate program. That includes its pros and cons, how to get started as a Target affiliate, and how to make $1000 per month promoting Target's many quality products.
Target makes it easy for anyone to sign up and become an affiliate. All you need to do is sign-up through its official Target Affiliate website, which takes less than 10 minutes. It's also free, unlike some affiliate programs that ask for a deposit.
No matter the affiliate program you wish to join, you first need a live website hosted online, and Target is no different. Having a professional email address attached to your website is also a good idea, as it can help convince the team at Target to let you become an affiliate. You'll also need a payment portal to pay and get paid. Below is a list of everything you need to become a Target affiliate marketer.
• A family-friendly website with family-friendly content.
• The website should have existing traffic, meaning consumers should already be visiting your site.
• Most of the traffic (visitors) coming to your website should originate in the continental United States. If most of your traffic comes from Europe, Asia, or another foreign land, Target will probably pass on your application.
• A plan on how and where you will promote the Target products you wish to sell.
Target is all about the experience their customers have while in their stores, and they want that experience to transfer to online sales. To be considered a Target affiliate, you need to produce quality content for your visitors, fans, and followers, whether on your website, YouTube channel, or social media channel. The affiliate team will look for wholesome content that presents Target's products in a positive and pleasing way. Below are a few more tips to help you be accepted as a target affiliate:
Tip: Get an email address through your website, not Yahoo or a 3rd-party email provider. A professional email address connected to your domain shows Target you're in the game for the long haul.
Tip: Create a marketing plan for the 1st year of operation once you're accepted as a Target affiliate. The company might never ask for it, but you'll be glad you have it once you've been accepted as an affiliate.
Tip: A well-designed website with easy menus and an intuitive interface is essential. You want to make it as easy as possible for your visitors to see what they came to see and, if they're happy, buy it using your link.
Tip: Have a plan to produce content for your channel, website, or social media page. If you aren't producing the content yourself, like written reviews, Instagram posts, or YouTube videos, have a plan to hire experts who can. You'll need a lot of content to earn good money as a Target affiliate.
One of the main drawbacks of being an affiliate for Target is that Target pays 0% commissions on some of its most popular product categories. Indeed, it might be better to look at what you can't promote at Target and then assume that anything else they sell is fair game. The categories that pay 0% commission from target include:
• Baby Care items
• Books
• Contract Mobile
• Electronics
• Gift Cards
• Groceries
• Household Essentials
• Movies
• Music
• Pets
• Pharmacy and OTC Medications
• Sporting Goods
• SweetJoJo
• Target Café
• Target Optical
• Target Photo
• Toys
• Video Games and Consoles
As you can see, the number and variety of products you won't get paid to promote at Target is large and includes some big categories like toys, electronics, and sporting goods.
As with many affiliate marketing programs, Target has different commission structures for different products and categories. On "Apparel & Accessories," for example, they pay up to 8% based on volume. However, for "Baby Gear & Furniture," the top commission rate is 5%. Your commission drops to 1% for "Health & Beauty" and stays there, no matter how many units you sell. Below is a close look at "Home & Outdoor Living" and how the commission rate changes as your number of sales increases.
• 0-10 Orders = 5.00%
• 11-50 Orders = 6.00%
• 51-300 Orders = 6.50%
• 301-1000 Orders = 7.00%
• 1001-2000 Orders = 7.25%
• 2001-4000 Orders = 7.50%
• 4001-10,000 Orders = 7.75%
• 10,000+ Orders = 8.00%
As a Target affiliate marketer, making $1000 per month is a numbers game like all affiliate programs. The more visitors, fans, or followers you have on your website, YouTube channel, or social media page, the better. More visitors equals more conversions, and more conversions equal more sales. As an example of how to earn $1000 a month as a Target affiliate, we will use an outdoor chair from the "home & outdoor living" category. It's an $80 product that pays a 5% commission so that you would make $4.00 per sale. That works out to the following numbers:
• Product ($80.00) x 5% Commission = $4.00 profit.
• 250 Sales x $4.00 per sale = $1000.00
If you want to generate 250 sales per month, and your website or YouTube has a 1% conversion rate (the number of visitors who "convert" to buyers), you would need 25,000 visitors every month.
• 25,000 visitors x 1% conversion rate = 250 sales x $4.00 commission per sale = $1000.00
If you sell a garden chair worth $160.00 that pays a 5% commission, you would need exactly half the number of visitors to earn $1000 a month by promoting this Target product.
• 12,500 visitors x 1% conversion rate = 125 sales x $8.00 commission per sale = $1000.00
All of the numbers above are possible but, in most cases, will be different for every Target affiliate. If you sold a product worth $500 and over 1000 of them, you would earn $35.00 per sale (7% commission) and make it to $1000 much more quickly. Below are a few tips that can help you attract more visitors, increase conversions and create more sales and commissions.
Tip: Have a constant flow of new, interesting, informative, and entertaining content. Written content, especially in-depth reviews, is crucial for selling many of Target's products. Consumers want that detailed info before they make a buying decision!
Tip: If you don't create your content, hire trustworthy experts who can. Written content is essential for a website and the main "bait," if you will, that attracts visitors. Having a team in place that you can rely on to create constant content is critical to your success.
Tip: Keep your website clean, uncluttered, and easy to navigate. If you want your visitors, fans, and followers to buy Target products through your affiliate channel, make it as easy as breathing for them to do so.
We've looked at some of the cons of the Target affiliate program already, including that they pay 0% commission on many popular products. However, they have several excellent benefits, as you'll see below.
• Up to 8% commissions on selected items.
• A 7-day cookie to make sure you get a commission for the sale.
• A massive variety of well-known, brand-name products.
• Lots of creative paraphernalia to promote your channel, website, social, etc.
• Same-day delivery on some items via Shipt.
• A well-known, nationwide brand loved by consumers.
• Earnings Per Click (EPC) = $12.00, showing that Target affiliates are making money.
• Zero percent commissions on over 15 popular categories.
• Target is local. 75% of the US population is within 10 miles of a Target store, so buying in person is easy.
• Target only ships to the United States, so no overseas markets are available.
Target isn't the only retail giant that has an affiliate marketing program, not even close. Amazon, for example, allows you to promote many more products, as do AliExpress and Walmart. Below are some of the alternatives to Target that might be a better choice, depending on your particular niche.
• AliExpress
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Overstock
• Walmart
• Newegg
• eBay Partner network
The Target Partners Program isn't the best affiliate program nor the worst. Target is well-known, carries well-known brands, and genuinely cares about its affiliate marketers. Boosted commission rates when you sell in bulk are a huge plus, as is their 7-day cookie and $12.00 EPC. They do, however, pay nothing in commission for some of their most popular categories, which is a big drawback for many affiliate marketers in small niches. Still, as a nationally-recognized brand, promoting Target products is a no-brainer for some and could be worthwhile (and profitable) if you choose the right products.