How to Choose the Right Affiliate Network for Your Business (UK Guide for Retailers & Ecommerce Brands)

A practical guide to comparing affiliate networks like AWIN, CJ, Impact and Rakuten, including costs, publisher access, and how to choose the best fit for your programme.

Why Use an Affiliate Network?

You can absolutely run your affiliate programme in-house, but in reality, it’s rarely worth the trade-off in terms of effort, unless you’re operating at serious scale. In most cases, if you’re launching an affiliate programme, you’re going to need the help of an affiliate network.

Networks sit in the middle of the affiliate ecosystem. They have relationships with publishers, they’ve built tracking infrastructure, and they handle the operational side of things that most businesses underestimate. Payments, validation, fraud checks, reporting; all of these areas become your problem if you don’t use a network.

Most importantly, networks give you a way to get moving quickly. Without a network, you’re effectively starting from scratch, building publisher relationships one by one, convincing partners to trust your tracking, and figuring out how to pay them. That’s a slow way to launch a channel that is at its best when it has momentum.

For most retailers, the question isn’t whether to use a network. It’s which one will give you the best chance of building the right partnerships quickly.

In making this decision, there are several factors to consider. Among them, costs, publisher base, and setup complexity. Here's how the top networks stack up at a glance:

Deciding Factors

Network Cost:

Cost is often the key deciding factor in deciding which network to go with, and understandably so - some of the fees can look quite punchy if you’re new to affiliates and the fee structure can be confusing. There are slight variations, but most networks follow a similar structure:

• a one off setup fee

• a monthly platform fee (sometimes a fee per geo)

• an override (a percentage of the commission paid to the network) OR a transaction fee (a percentage of the transaction value paid to the network)

Some networks have a high barrier for entry, with setup fees in the thousands of pounds and a minimum commitment of six months or a year (CJ, for example, tend to have quite high setup fees). Others have tiers more suited for startups, who may not be able to afford a large initial outlay (AWIN's access tier is just £99 per month, on a 3 month minimum term).

On paper, that makes networks relatively easy to compare, though in reality what matters isn’t just the cost, but the value and the support delivered.

Choosing the cheapest network might feel like the best option, but you may find it limits you as the business grows. On the flip side, a slightly more expensive network, that has strong relationships in your sector, might accelerate your programme growth significantly. 

Instead of asking which network is the cheapest, ask which network is most likely to drive the best return for your business.

Publisher Base:

If I had to simplify the whole decision making process down to one thing, it would be this:

Go where the publishers you want to work with already are.

Everything else (cost, tech, support) matters, but this is the bit that actually drives performance. Different networks have built up different ecosystems over time. Some are stronger in content, some in voucher and cashback, some in specific verticals.

A practical way of finding the right network for you is to look at your competitors. Which network are they running their programme through, (search their name+affiliate programme) and what partnerships do they have that you’d like to replicate?

If you consistently see the same network coming up in your competitor analysis, that’s usually a good signal. It means the publishers you care about are already active on that network, and you won't have to try and convince them to sign up to a new platform they might not have previously worked with.

Don't follow the crowd blindly, but don't ignore patterns - that will make your life harder than it needs to be.

Technical Setup:

Regardless of which network you choose, you're going to need to do some technical work to get things up and running. This can be as simple as enabling a plugin on Shopify, or may require more developer support to add code to your checkout to capture the right information and pass it back to the network.

Networks will provide thorough guidance on the setup phase and the good news is, in my experience, they're all really good at this part, with dedicated staff available to support.

Once the integration is done, they'll spend time testing so you can be sure that things are working well.

If you're are keen to go live asap, consider whether one of the networks in the comparison table above offers you a quick integration option.

A Practical Way To Decide

If you’re at the point of choosing, here's how you can approach it in practice:

Narrow your selection down to two or three networks that make sense for your sector and geography. From there, spend time understanding where your target publishers are actually active and who your competitors are using. This is where a bit of experience helps, but even basic research can get you a long way.

Then look at cost, but in context. Not just the headline fees, but what you’re getting in terms of access, support and growth potential.

Finally, think beyond launch. It’s easy to choose a network that works for where you are today, but switching later can be disruptive. If you’re planning to scale, expand internationally, or invest properly in the channel, that should factor into your decision.

Still Not Sure? That’s Normal

Most businesses don’t have full visibility of:

• which publishers are actually worth working with

• how networks differ commercially in practice

• where the best long-term opportunity sits

That’s where experience tends to make a difference. If you’re weighing up options or just want a second opinion before committing, I’m happy to take a look and give you a view based on what I’ve seen work (and not work) across different programmes.