Target Affiliate Program Review: Better than Amazon Associates?

This in-depth Target Affiliate Program review is meant to help you determine whether the program makes sense for you to join.

If you’re thinking about monetizing your blog or social media channels with Target affiliate links, then this is a must read deep dive.   

And since many content creators generally start with promoting the Amazon Associates Program, I’ve also included a side-by-side comparison of each.

Plus not to be left out, I’ve included an alternative comparison review of the Walmart Affiliate Program.

By the end of this Target Partners Program review, you’ll have a better understanding of how the program works and whether it fits your needs.

Target

Do we really need an introduction to this company? 

Most people are already familiar with or currently shop at the well known big-box retailer with the famous “bulls-eye” logo. But what you may not know is that Target is quickly becoming a force to reckon with in the e-commerce space. 

In 2022, Target ranked as one of the Top 5 online stores in the U.S. eCommerce market just behind Walmart.com and Amazon.com. 

That’s great news for anyone considering this affiliate program to know that a large number of people already shop the Target.com website. 

This means there’s a buying audience that you can get in front of and make Target affiliate sales. 

Obviously there’s much more to it than just that. 

It would also be good to understand the Target affiliate commission structure to know whether you’ll benefit from these sales.

How Does the Target Affiliate Program Work?

The Target affiliate program enables bloggers, influencers and affiliates with a family friendly website to earn commissions on qualified sales from products found on Target.com. Affiliates can earn up to 8% on qualified purchases and affiliate links have a 7-day cookie window.

Commissions earned will be credited to your Impact Radius account, which is the Target affiliate program management platform. 

When you apply for the program via Impact Radius and get approved, you’ll gain access to your affiliate links, banners, widgets and other creative tools to promote products. 

Additionally, you’ll receive weekly affiliate newsletters with updates on promotions, contests, and sales opportunities. 

This is how the Target Affiliate Program works in a nutshell:

• Meet the affiliate requirements set by the Target Partner Terms Agreement

• Sign up to become an affiliate through the Target Affiliate Website, Impact Radius

• Decide which product categories you’ll promote

• Use your provided affiliate links and banners to promote products from Target.com to your audience

• Earn commissions on each order with qualifying products or qualifying actions

• Get Paid by the Impact Affiliate Network

This free to join affiliate program is hosted on the Impact Radius Affiliate Network, and can be accessed on the Target affiliate login page once approved.

Target Affiliate Program Requirements

The Target affiliate program is relatively easy to get into. Requirements to join include having a family friendly website with a mainly US-based viewership, and accepting the Target affiliate terms of service. Basically, no sketchy websites!

Websites with excessive use of pop-ups will not be accepted. 

It’s also important to note that you may be terminated from the affiliate program if your site is unable to direct a reasonable amount of traffic by way of sales volume, clicks and page views to the Target website.

Target Affiliate Program Quick Glance

Referral Commissions: Up to 8%

Action Locking:  Actions are locked 60 days after end of the month they are tracked

Payout Scheduling: Approved transactions are paid 20 days after the end of the day they lock.

Credit Policy: Last click attribution model

Cookie Duration: Allow referrals from clicks within 7 days

Who Can Become a Target Affiliate?

Bloggers, influencers, and affiliates can apply to become a Target affiliate. 

You should consider joining the Target affiliate program if you are a content creator with an audience that would be interested in products found on the Target.com website.

Bloggers

If you are a blogger, then you can utilize affiliate marketing to make affiliate sales from readers that come to your site. 

This can be done by writing product reviews and recommending items that fit your niche and audience needs. 

For example, if you are a beauty blogger, then it makes sense to review beauty and wellness products to your audience.

Use your Target affiliate links and banners found in your Impact Radius dashboard to link back to these products from your site.

Influencers

Social media influencers are in a great position to earn affiliate commissions since they generally have a close connection with their audience.

Your following will trust your product recommendations and will want to show their support by purchasing these products. 

Always be mindful of promoting products that you would actually use in order to maintain the trust of your audience.

Unlike other programs, such as the Amazon Influencer program, Target only has one affiliate program for all types of content creators.

Affiliates

Affiliates encompass everyone else that uses YouTube affiliate marketing, websites and other channels to promote products.

For instance, content creators on Pinterest can pin affiliate links on the social site to earn from their marketing efforts. 

The Pinterest Try On feature is especially great for affiliates who wish to show their audience how an item may look on them before making a purchase.

Target Commission Structure

Ok –  So far so good up until this point. Now let’s take a look at the affiliate payout schedule.

Anyone giving this affiliate commission structure a quick look over, will be happy to observe that commissions increase the more you sell. 

Essentially, the more visitors you refer and the more of those visitors who convert into Target customers, the more you get paid.

Target Product Categories You CAN Promote:

• Apparel and Accessories

• Home and Outdoor Living

• Baby Gear and Furniture

• Health and Beauty

Now let’s say you’re a mommy blogger promoting super stylish baby gear on your site. You write an on-point SEO blog article with Target affiliate links and it goes viral on Pinterest.

That’s not a far-fetched scenario, especially if you’re implementing the proper Pinterest marketing strategies taught by Pinterest marketing experts.  

That one blog article nets you 50 affiliate sales of a $15 item the first week, but by the end of the month, you’re up to 2,000 sales. 

At 50 affiliate sales in a given month in the baby gear product category, you would earn a 3.5% commission per sale. For each $15 product sold, you would earn a $0.525 referral payout. 

But because you sold 2,000 items in this same category in a one month time period, your affiliate commissions increased to 4.25% per sale. This equates to $0.6375 in referral commission per sale, instead of $0.525.

That may not sound like much now, but it does make a huge difference as you begin to grow your blog traffic.

A volume-based commission structure, such as the Target affiliate program, will help you earn more as you grow your blog. That’s a great incentive to continue sending traffic over to Target’s website with your affiliate links. 

But before you go running off to join the Target Affiliate Program, let’s take a look at one of the downsides to their program.

Non-Commissionable Target Product Categories:

That’s a long list of excluded product categories. And if you hadn’t known better, you could have chosen the wrong affiliate program to promote on your niche website.

How to Promote Target Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing is profitable when done right.

For instance, niche affiliate websites that have a strong focus in the Apparel and Accessories, Home and Outdoor Living, or Baby Gear and Furniture category have the best chances of making money with the Target affiliate program.

These are the three main categories that would be worthwhile to promote given the current affiliate commission structure. The Health and Beauty category is so low at 1% commission that it’s not worth bothering with it. 

With this in mind, let’s take a look at different ways in which you can promote the Target affiliate program. 

Create Rich Pins to Make More Affiliate Sales

Pinterest is one of those under the radar platforms that many small business owners have discounted as a way to drive sales.

Yet, savvy business owners know that shopping is top of mind for Pinterest users, making it one of the best places to market your affiliate products.

Once you ‘claim’ your website on Pinterest, you’ll be able to apply for Pinterest Rich Pins.

Rich Pins play a huge role in attracting more traffic and sales on Pinterest. With this free Pinterest for Business feature, you’ll be able to automatically sync information from your website to your pins.

Not only will this make your affiliate website easier to get found by Pinterest users, but you’ll also increase your chances of getting your website ranked on Google.

That’s because Pinterest also works as a search engine. It’s more than enough reason to give Pinterest a serious consideration for promoting your website, and making more Target affiliate sales.

Drive Organic Traffic with SEO

There are currently 200 Million active websites on the web today. By the time you finish reading this, they’ll be a few thousand more created.

So that begs the question, “How do you make your website visible on Google in order to generate more affiliate sales?”

The answer: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If you’re serious about making money with affiliate marketing, then you’ll want to get serious about promoting your business using proper SEO strategies.

Search engine optimization is what gets websites ranked on page 1 of Google. 

And according to multiple studies, only 25 percent of users go to the second page of search results.

So if you’re not on page 1 of the search results, then you can kiss 75% of all that traffic goodbye, along with your affiliate commissions. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

If you think ranking your website on page 1 of Google is something only reserved for well known websites and large companies, then think again.

Smaller websites such as yours and mine can leverage the power of long-tail keywords to quickly reach the top of the search results. 

With a simple Google search, you’ll find a multitude of free SEO Courses, but none as highly regarded as this one.

Once you learn how to rank your website on Google, next is to create valuable content that your readers will love. 

For example, if you’re aiming to reach expecting moms with your curated list of Top 30 Pregnancy Essentials, you may want to include more than just a list of Target affiliate products.

Including ways in which your audience can save money on these essentials with a free money saving app, will further increase your chances of making an affiliate sale. 

Target Pro’s and Con’s 

Let’s do a quick re-cap and list out some of the pro’s and con’s of the Target affiliate program.

Pro’s

• Well known and Trusted Big Box Retailer

• Increased Shoppers Buying Online

• Volume-Based Commission Structure

• Dedicated Affiliate Program Management

• 7 Day Cookie Window on Qualified Actions

Con’s

• Limited Product Categories to Promote

• High Competition from Amazon Prime Loyalty Program

• Low-Ticket Affiliate Program

• Constricted to mainly US Traffic, Not Worldwide

• 1,800+ stores can deter locals from purchasing online

Since the Amazon Associates program is a comparable popular affiliate program, let’s take a look at how that compares to Target’s program.

Target Affiliate Program vs. Amazon Associates 

In the last 30 years, Amazon has become the largest online retailer in the United States. Their Amazon Prime loyalty program currently has nearly 170 million Prime Members and continues to grow year after year.

This powerful ‘Amazon authority factor’ makes the Amazon Associates program an easy choice for beginner affiliate marketers to promote.

So is this a better alternative to the Target Affiliate Program? 

Let’s take a look!

Amazon Associates Commission Structure

If you had looked at the Amazon commission structure prior to their affiliate cuts on April 21, 2020, you may have not given a second thought to promoting it. But since their cuts were so drastic (furniture and home improvement products fell from 8% to 3%!), it’s now worth looking at the Target affiliate program to compare.

Target Commission vs Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates Pro’s

Amazon is an attractive option for beginner affiliate marketers due to brand authority and brand loyalty. Nearly 82% of US Households have an Amazon Prime account, and statistics show that Prime members generally buy more than one item per visit.

On top of that, Amazon has conversion optimization experts working to ensure that most visitors turn into paying customers. That means more sales and more commissions earned per each person you refer to the Amazon website.

Their worldwide reach and large product selection will appeal to nearly anyone you send to the Amazon website.

Amazon Associates Con’s 

Amazon offers a low commission structure and the general trend is that it will continue to cut affiliate commissions.

At one point, the Amazon Associates program had a volume-based commission structure, such as the Target Affiliate Program, before cutting that to a fixed rate.

Again in 2020, Amazon Associates drastically cut its fixed rates even further, infuriating Amazon affiliates with niche websites.

The more market share Amazon acquires, the less need they will have for the everyday micro-influencer affiliate marketers. This makes promoting the Amazon Associates program a huge risk for long-term success.

Target Affiliate Program vs. Walmart Affiliate

As mentioned before, the Target affiliate program is quite limited in categories worth promoting. That is what makes it better for only certain affiliate niche sites to promote.

But if you have a general affiliate website, then the Walmart affiliate program offers a wider range of categories to promote and higher conversion rates.

Target Commission vs Walmart

Target Affiliate Program Summary

While the Target Affiliate Program does have its drawbacks, there is great opportunity to earn a considerable amount of money promoting specific categories.

These categories include: Apparel and Accessories, Home and Outdoor Living, and Baby Gear and Furniture. With a niche affiliate website, you can drive highly targeted traffic to your Target affiliate links by leveraging Pinterest and free SEO strategies. 

Prefer to Earn More for Your Time? Take a look at these High Ticket Affiliate Programs to Promote.

Target Affiliates FAQ

How Do I Become an Affiliate of Target?

To begin the enrollment process, you must submit a completed affiliate application via Impact Radius.

Can Websites Outside of the U.S. Become Affiliate Partners?

Yes. The Target Affiliate Program accepts affiliates from anywhere in the world, as long as Impact Radius supports your country of residence and your content is directed toward the US market.

How Do I Apply for the Program if I Have Multiple Websites?

You can apply for the program under your company profile and then list additional websites that you may promote Target on in your account.

Are There Any Fees or Costs Associated with Becoming an Affiliate of Target?

No, there is no charge to join the Target affiliate program. It is free to sign up, and free to add banners, widgets and links to your site.

What is the Cookie Length?

The cookie length is 7 days. You get credit for any order within 7 days of the original click placed by the customer.

What is Target’s EPC?

EPC stands for Estimated Earnings per 100 Clicks. Target’s EPC is approximately $12-$13. This means that the average payout for every 100 clicks is $12-$13.

Can I Use Target Graphics and Content from the Target Website?

The entire Target website and content are protected by copyright. You may use images and content from our website in the promotion of our products on your own website, however all images must be used in the sale of the product through the affiliate program and attributed to Target.

If you have a special circumstance that requires the use of any graphics, product images or content in a manner that is not consistent with the above, you must contact us for written approval prior to use of any such content.

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