Merchants 
13 Comments Next – Do They Care About The Affiliate Marketing Industry?
As we all know, since winning the Best New Merchant award in 2007, Next have behaved like a spoilt brat annoying a lot of affiliates. Their recent actions can only be compared to how a child acts when attending a friends 4th birthday party… You know the feeling, when you see the parents ashamed and embarrassed that its a child of theirs acting up.
Well I do often wonder how the e-marketing team of Next feel? Do they have no shame? As if Next hadn’t misbehaved enough already with their Wiping The Slate Clean comments, the drop in commissions, brand bidding on competitors trademarks they have managed to go even further!
As we all know, the programme will be closing on Affiliate Window come 29th February however in an attempt to piss affiliates off one last time they are going against the grain of every other merchant that has switched networks. Next currently operate a 7 day cookie, during which time they throw a few coppers your way for any sales generated by visitors you referred in the past 7 days. Well on 29th February there is no cookie run out time.
What does this mean? Well normally when a merchant leaves a network, they allow a cookie run out time, usually the same as their programme, so that any referrals you make within the cookie time-frame, will still be honoured. Not Next! Nope they are exempt to honouring affiliates for their hard work.
If I left my links in place, and referred someone at 3pm on 29th February that then went on to make a purchase at 10am on 1st March I can expect £0.00 commissions. This has been the decision of Next which I think is incredible, yet it doesn’t surprise me one bit. All other networks that move from network to network, would honour sales made in the cookie referral period, so why are Next, the award winners, different?
Question is, do I continue to push Next via another network? Then again, after my rants about them, would they accept me on their programme?