At the same time, recent analysis by The Industry Standard demonstrated just how different online shoppers are from offline shoppers, at least when it comes to one of the web's killer categories. All in all, merchants can help themselves by arming their affiliates with better tools, while affiliates can use the insights to sharpen their web selling techniques. Forrester Research says that content is the No. 1 reason people log on to the web. Likewise, content is the top reason people return to a site. The bad news is that not all content is created equal.
Events drive demand perhaps better than anything else.
Even within this overall uptrend, selected events and athletes created more pronounced spikes. Victoria's Secret, the Starr Report. The key for merchants and affiliates is to start integrating commerce with content related to needle-moving events. While certain events can't be planned for, others can be predicted with near certainty. Think of how you can deliver the content people want to the benefit of your program.