Increase in retailers using secondary revenue to boost profits

More retailers are making use of secondary revenue to increase sales outside of core offerings, online marketing company Webloyalty’s ‘Beyond the Core II’ report suggests.

According to the report, there has been an increase of retailers working with third parties on secondary revenue – up from 23% to 36% this year.

Key methods of secondary revenue include selling advertising on the retailer’s website, affiliate marketing rewards loyalty and rewards programmes and cross-selling third party goods or services.

The study of 100 retailers also found that 40% of retailers with turnover of £100k or more believed that secondary revenue was ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ important. For those with more than £10m turnover, 46% said that it is very or ‘extremely’ important.

The reasons given by retailers included the increased competitiveness of online retail, tightening of margins and higher business rates.

Richard Piper, director of Webloyalty Northern Europe, said: “The increasing necessity and popularity of secondary revenue continues to drive innovation within the retail industry.

“Beyond the Core II forms a benchmarking study that highlights the trends and opportunities for generating such additional retail streams – crucially, to increase profitability and business resilience.”