Whitelabel E-Commerce Sites

Recently I have learnt of a fairly new phenomenon - the so-called "white label" e-commerce site.

Basically, many companies are finding it increasingly expensive to drive sales to their sites themselves e.g. via SEO and PPC. This led to the massive growth in affiliate partnerships and networks.

As each affiliate required banners, creative, links etc. this became a massive management task for the companies themselves. So, the white label concept came around. Rather than have someone taking some of your content and using it on their site - why not just provide all the content?

Take E2Save for example, the white label version of Carphone Warehouse. All you do is sign up and they give you a fully managed site with "yourname.e2save.com" as the URL e.g. http://store.e2save.com is one white label firm.

Similarly, Mobileshop do a managed white label service, Fonetastic Mobile e.g. http://orange.fonetasticmobile.com is one firm.

Any sales through the site earn commission in exactly the same way as if they were through an affiliate programme, just without the annoying network override percentage that has to be paid.

The level of the white label service can vary - some firms give you a better more integrated site the more that you drive higher levels of traffic.

Bonuses

- Whitelabel sites are often free - no hosting, domain name or other associated set up costs
- No updating - all the products are updated by the parent company and automatically feed through with no work at all
- Branding - if you have a strong brand they often let you customise the site with your own brand. If you don't have one, stick with the host brand as it gives people confidence!