You can spend thousands of euros optimizing your site, but if your product feed is subpar, you are capping your affiliate sales—especially when it comes to CSS (Comparison Shopping Services) partners and Google Shopping.

Over the years, I've seen that the quality of the feed is directly related to the volume of sales.

If you want your affiliates to drive maximum performance, here are 5 critical feed elements you must verify today:

1️⃣ 𝗘𝗔𝗡/𝗚𝗧𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀 (𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀) Without EAN codes, Google CSS partners cannot match your products properly in the Google Carousel. It’s like sending a shipping package without a barcode. If you want CSS affiliates to drive massive volume, EAN/GTIN codes are non-negotiable.

2️⃣ 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 (𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿, 𝗦𝗶𝘇𝗲, 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿, 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱) These are not "nice-to-have" extras; they are search filters. If a user searches for "𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦 42" and your feed lacks color or size data, your products simply won’t show up in their search. Ensure these attributes are populated and mapped correctly.

3️⃣ 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: Low-resolution images, placeholder graphics, or photos with heavy watermarks get flagged and rejected by Google Merchant Center. Make sure your image URLs lead directly to high-quality product photos (preferably on a white background).

4️⃣ 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 (𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸 & 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻) In our network, product feeds update three times a day (at 1:00 AM, 8:00 AM, and 4:00 PM). If your website prices or stock levels mismatch the feed data, Google will suspend the ads, and affiliates will waste budgets sending traffic to out-of-stock items. Keep them synchronized.

5️⃣ 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁-𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 Put the brand, product type, and key identifier (e.g., material or model) in the first 70 characters of the title. Users scan Google search results in milliseconds—if they can’t see what the product is immediately, they will click on a competitor’s ad.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲? In performance marketing, your sales volume is only as good as the data you feed into the system. High-quality data feeds high-quality traffic.

In April 2025, BusinessLeague by 2Performant reported 5,254 sales and RON 1.23M to me. GA4, on last non-direct click, credited me with 1,484 sales and RON 468K. The difference: ~3,770 orders. And no, nobody is... lying.

On those orders, the affiliate was somewhere in the customer journey, but the last meaningful touch came through a different channel. The network counts based on its own cookie, last-affiliate-click, with a 30–90 day window. It doesn't see that someone else closed the sale. It can't.

This isn't a flaw in any particular platform. Wherever you have 5–6 channels each placing their own cookie and claiming the same conversion, their attribution models will overlap. Guaranteed. Anyone who blames the network for overlap is also blaming mathematics.

I understand why this sparks debate. You're paying twice: the affiliate commission, plus the channel your model considers the last touch.

I know people who removed the channel entirely because of this. I didn't. I ran the numbers using the strictest counting method available.

On LNDC, where affiliate gets credit only where it was the last meaningful touch, the channel delivered RON 81K in spend, RON 468K in revenue, 41% net margin, and ~RON 21K in profit after COGS and commission. It pays for itself under the worst-case scenario. Everything it contributes in an assist position is a bonus.

What LNDC still doesn't tell me: how many of those sales would have happened anyway. Incrementality doesn't show up in any platform report — it can only be measured through a holdout test. I haven't done one yet.

Until then, I work with what I can control: my own tracking, clean, with data in one place. A single attribution model, applied identically across all channels. And decisions based on POAS and operating margin — not on what each platform reports about itself.

The decision changes if POAS drops below 1 or if the commission exceeds the operating margin. Until that point, what I need to do is clean up the program internally — not pause the channel. If you look at each platform's report in isolation, you'll always see inflated numbers. Without unified tracking, it's just noise.

A few notes on terminology I kept consistent with your usual style: LNDC (last non-direct click), POAS (profit on ad spend), COGS — all left as-is since they're standard industry acronyms your audience will recognize.

În aprilie 2025, BusinessLeague by 2Performant mi-a raportat 5.254 de vânzări și 1,23 M lei. GA4, pe last non-direct click, mi-a creditat 1.484 de vânzări și 468k lei. Diferența: ~3.770 de comenzi. Si nu, nimeni nu minte.

Pe comenzile alea, afiliatul a fost undeva în customer journey, dar ultima atingere utilă a fost prin alt canal. Rețeaua numără pe baza cookie-ului ei, last-affiliate-click, cu o fereastră de 30-90 de zile. Nu vede că altcineva a închis vânzarea. Nu are cum.

Asta nu e un defect al unei platforme. Oriunde ai 5-6 canale care își pun fiecare cookie-ul și revendică aceeași conversie, modelele lor de atribuire se suprapun. Garantat. Cine se supără pe rețea pentru overlap se supără și pe matematică.

Înțeleg de ce se animă discuția. Plați de două ori: comisionul către afiliat, plus canalul pe care modelul tău îl consideră ultimul touch.Știu oameni care au scos canalul complet din cauza asta. Eu nu l-am scos. Am rulat cifrele în cel mai strict mod de numărare.

Pe LNDC, unde afilierea primește credit doar acolo unde a fost ultima atingere utilă, canalul a făcut 81k lei spend, 468k lei revenue, 41% net margin și ~21k lei profit după COGS și comision. Se plateste pe el însuși în scenariul cel mai prost. Tot ce face pe poziția de asistent e bonus.

Ce nu îmi spune nici LNDC: cât din vânzările alea s-ar fi întâmplat oricum. Incrementalitatea nu se citește în niciun raport de platformă; se măsoară doar printr-un test de holdout. Încă nu l-am făcut.Până atunci, lucrez cu ce pot controla: tracking-ul meu, curat, cu datele într-un singur loc. Un singur model de atribuire, aplicat identic pe toate canalele. Și decizia între POAS și marja operațională, nu pe ce raportează fiecare platformă despre ea însăși.

Decizia se schimbă dacă POAS scade sub 1 sau dacă comisionul depășește marja operațională. Până atunci, ce am de făcut e curățenie internă în program, nu pauză pe canal. Dacă te uiți la raportul fiecărei platforme separat, mereu vei vedea cifre umflate. Fără tracking unificat, e doar zgomot.

Background info

Shopilo is, simply put, the place where we check discount codes for you, so you don't pay full price when shopping online. We gather offers from hundreds of stores, test them to make sure they work, and present them in a clean place — no intrusive ads, no registration required to see a code.

Simple as it sounds, the "verification" part is half the work. An expired code or a fake offer instantly kills trust, so we have a team that tests daily, plus an in-house system that automatically flags when something stops working.

My role is a combination of Partnership Management, Content Owner, and Business Development. On a typical day I handle opening new partnerships across all the European markets we operate in, securing exclusive discount codes for our community, staying on top of the newest and best-performing store campaigns and highlighting them across various channels, and making sure offers are up to date and accurately presented. It's not glamorous, but I like this balance between strategy and hands-on work.

9 out of 10

Since 2012 we've been present with DontPayFull on English-speaking markets: US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. We started in 2012 out of a very concrete frustration. You'd shop online, see a "promo code" field at checkout, start searching on Google, and nine out of ten codes you found didn't work. We said: there has to be a better way. That's how DontPayFull was born.

In nearly fourteen years since, we've grown organically. Today we have 34 full-time employees and over 40 external collaborators — "deal hunters" as we call them — spread across multiple countries. We cover over 25,000 stores globally, have been members of the Performance Marketing Association since 2016, and work directly with all the major international affiliate networks: CJ Affiliate, Rakuten, Awin, Skimlinks, Impact, and BusinessLeague.

Shopilo is the natural next step: if DontPayFull was our answer for English-speaking markets, Shopilo is the version for non-English European markets. We launched it in 2026 in Romania, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, and Austria using the same technology, the same verification algorithms, and the same editorial discipline we've built over more than a decade. In Romania we're newcomers, launched in October 2025. The technology and experience behind it, however, are those built since 2012.

The fact that, even though we're talking about an international brand, our team has been based in Romania from the very beginning is, honestly, a detail we're proud of. We're building a global product from here.

How important is the technology behind it, and how does it help you concretely?

Very important, but without the hype. We're not a company that slaps "AI" on everything. Technology helps us do three things that a classic coupon site does manually and poorly: verification at scale, understanding the context of each store, and multi-market coverage with local identity.

We have three pieces of technology we've invested years in:

The first is our code verification system. It runs continuously, flagging what's expired, what's new, what's appeared across all the communication channels of our partner stores. We combine automated verification with human verification, because neither alone is enough.

The second is our Chrome extension, "DontPayFull Automatic Coupon Finder." It detects when you're at checkout on one of the 25,000+ stores we cover and automatically tests the relevant codes, keeping the best one. For the user, it means a discount without any hassle. For us, it means real, real-time feedback about which codes actually work.

The third is the part no one sees, but that makes the rest possible: a proprietary platform running DontPayFull across six English-speaking markets and Shopilo across seven European markets — soon many more — each with a local identity, local content, and local partners. We also invest heavily in structured data, meaning the way search engines understand our pages. Here I believe we're among the most advanced in the coupon niche globally.

What are the major differences between the Romanian market and those in the US or Ireland, for example, when it comes to affiliate marketing?

There are a few differences that jump out immediately once you cross the border.

The first has to do with the maturity of the e-commerce ecosystem. In the US or UK you have tens of thousands of online stores investing in affiliate marketing, with a massive pool of buyers. Competition is intense — both in capturing users' attention and retaining them through loyalty programs, sophisticated upselling systems, and targeted discount codes.

This means greater complexity for both buyers and stores, but also a well-established habit of searching for the best deal from a wide range of options.

An American or Irish shopper actively looks for a code before checkout — it's a reflex formed over ten, fifteen years. In Romania, that behavior exists, but it's much less widespread. Many shoppers don't even think to look for a code. That's also an opportunity, honestly, because the market is still being educated, and whoever positions themselves well now will be there when that reflex becomes standard.

When it comes to affiliate systems, there are a few major differences. International networks have invested heavily in expanding store portfolios and sophisticated tracking systems, with considerable transaction volumes they intermediate.

That said, the level of support affiliates receive is extremely low. Affiliate programs are built with a fairly low degree of transparency and minimal regulatory rules from the networks. The volumes of active stores and publishers lead to reduced quality control. The data made available to both stores and publishers is minimal, making the discovery of new relationships and campaign optimization a lottery that costs time and money.

BusinessLeague offers all players in affiliate marketing a generous range of data and transparency unseen in other networks. This allows rapid evaluation of opportunities, much easier discovery of partners, and near-instant calibration with what's happening in the market. The network strictly enforces the rules of the game, and violations are quickly identified and corrected.

As an affiliate, you can strategically plan your growth and build partnerships at your own pace, knowing that affiliate programs have great stability. Notice periods, payment speed and security, and clear terms and conditions are all clear advantages for BusinessLeague in the eyes of an international affiliate. Not to mention the level of team support, which doesn't compare to what I've encountered on other markets.

What types of stores are you looking to work with in BusinessLeague? Do you have a specific profile?

Yes, we have a fairly clear — though not rigid — profile. We're interested in stores that regularly use discount codes as part of their conversion and retention strategy. Niches where a discount code genuinely moves the needle in the purchase decision.

The reality is that our users are price-sensitive, and we can intervene precisely at that final point where a small extra incentive can make the difference between an abandoned cart and a completed purchase. That's why exclusive codes are our primary objective — even more so than monetization itself.

Beyond that, what matters a great deal to us is whether the affiliate team is active, responds to us, gives us real codes, and involves us in campaigns. A silent program works for neither side.

What are your expectations regarding progress in the competition?

We're more realistic than ambitious at any cost. We want stable, long-term growth, which is why we've chosen to grow the number of stores gradually and in a controlled way. We're at the point where we're focusing on the technical and operational fundamentals that will fuel our future growth.

That said, we enjoy competition and have a team that works hard. If the results put us in the top spots, all the better. But the real success metric for us at the end of the competition will be how many new partnerships we've built, how many users we've brought into the coupon space who weren't there before, and how many stores have discovered that a well-built coupon site can be a predictable sales channel, not just a last-click queue.

Have you tested other affiliate platforms? What differences do you see between them and BusinessLeague?

I've largely answered this in question 4. We've worked for fourteen years with the largest international networks: CJ Affiliate, Rakuten, Awin, ShareASale, TradeDoubler, Skimlinks, Impact, Performance Horizon, AvantLink, Pepperjam. In Romania, we're actively focusing 90% of our portfolio on 2Performant/BusinessLeague.

The large international networks have very well-developed tools: stable APIs, detailed reports, on-time payments, technical support. However, they sometimes fall short on the relationship side — you're one account among thousands and can rarely negotiate personalized terms unless you're very large.

Local networks, both in the West and in Romania, win on closeness to the store. You speak directly with the team, you quickly adjust a campaign, you receive exclusive codes.

BusinessLeague is interesting because it emphasizes direct relationships and competitive visibility, which forces you to demonstrate real value rather than just waiting in line. For a publisher looking to build a reputation in a new market, that format makes sense. For a store, it's an opportunity to see who's worth building long-term relationships with.

How do you see affiliate marketing evolving in the medium-to-long term — both in Romania and in Western markets?

In the medium term, I see two forces pulling in different directions that will reshape the industry.

On one hand, the pressure around privacy, the disappearance of third-party cookies, changes in browsers, and — especially — the rapid growth of zero-click searches from major search engines will put pressure on tracking systems, the way attribution works, and the very philosophy behind partnerships and affiliate marketing in general.

On the other hand, the ease with which a concept can be launched or copied using AI will lead in the short term to a massive scaling of competition across most affiliate niches, often with dubious content quality. This opens space for players who have built proprietary technology, trust, transparency, and clean relationships with retailers. We're in that category, and we say it without false modesty.

The evolution will go deeper: tighter integrations with retailers, content produced with AI assistance but verified and owned by humans, media-commerce partnerships between large publishers and brands. The difference will be made by those who understand that affiliate marketing can no longer be a passive channel. You have to bring real value to the purchase decision.

In Romania, paradoxically, the maturation of affiliate marketing will happen faster than it took in the West, because we're starting from a much stronger base of transparency, product philosophy, and ethical principles. The growth potential is significant.

Background info

Shopilo este, pe scurt, locul unde verificăm coduri de reducere pentru tine, ca să nu plătești prețul întreg atunci când cumperi online. Strângem oferte de la sute de magazine, le testăm să ne asigurăm că funcționează și le punem într-un loc curat, fără reclame intruzive și fără să te punem să te înregistrezi ca să vezi un cod.

Sună simplu spus așa, dar partea de "verificare" e jumătate din muncă. Un cod expirat sau o ofertă falsă strică instant încrederea, așa că avem o echipă care testează zilnic, plus un sistem propriu care semnalizează automat când ceva nu mai funcționează.

Rolul meu este o combinație între Partnership Management, Content Owner și Business Development. Într-o zi obișnuită ma ocup de deschiderea de noi parteneriate pe toate piețele europene pe care activăm, obțin coduri de reducere exclusive pentru comunitatea noastră, sunt la curent cu cele mai noi și mai performante campanii ale magazinelor și le evidențiez pe diverse canale, mă asigur că ofertele sunt la zi și corect prezentate. Nu e glamour, dar îmi place echilibrul ăsta între strategie și treabă concretă.

9 din 10

Din 2012 suntem prezenți cu DontPayFull pe piețele anglofone: US, UK, Canada, Australia, Noua Zeelandă și Irlanda. Am început în 2012 dintr-o frustrare foarte concretă. Cumpărai online, vedeai un câmp "cod promoțional" la checkout, începeai să cauți pe Google, iar nouă din zece coduri găsite nu funcționau. Ne-am zis: trebuie să existe o variantă mai bună. Așa a apărut DontPayFull.

În aproape paisprezece ani de atunci, am crescut într-un mod organic. Suntem astăzi 34 de angajați full-time și peste 40 de colaboratori externi, "deal hunters" cum le spunem, răspândiți în mai multe țări. Avem peste 25.000 de magazine acoperite la nivel global, suntem membri ai Performance Marketing Association din 2016 și lucrăm direct cu toate rețelele mari de afiliere internaționale: CJ Affiliate, Rakuten, Awin, Skimlinks, Impact sau BusinessLeague.

Shopilo este pasul firesc următor: dacă DontPayFull a fost răspunsul nostru pentru piețele anglofone, Shopilo este versiunea pentru piețele europene non-engleze. L-am lansat în 2026 în România, Germania, Spania, Italia, Franța, Danemarca si Austria folosind aceeași tehnologie, aceiași algoritmi de verificare și aceeași disciplină editorială pe care le-am construit timp de peste un deceniu. Pe piața din România suntem nou-veniți, lansați în octombrie 2025. Tehnologia și experiența din spate sunt însă cele construite din 2012.

Faptul că, deși vorbim despre un brand internațional, echipa noastră a fost de la început în România este, sincer, un detaliu de care suntem mândri. Construim de aici un produs global.

Cât de importantă este tehnologia din spate și cum vă ajută concret?

Foarte importantă, dar fără bombasticisme. Nu suntem o companie care lipește "AI" pe orice. Tehnologia ne ajută să facem trei lucruri pe care un site de cupoane clasic le face manual și prost: verificare la scară, înțelegere a contextului fiecărui magazin și acoperire multi-piață cu identitate locală.

Concret, avem trei piese de tehnologie pe care am investit ani buni:

Prima este sistemul nostru de verificare a codurilor. Funcționează în continuu, semnalizează ce a expirat, ce e nou, ce a apărut pe toate canalele de comunicare ale magazinelor noastre. Combinăm verificarea automată cu cea făcută de echipă, pentru că niciuna singură nu e suficientă.

A doua este extensia noastră de Chrome, "DontPayFull Automatic Coupon Finder". Detectează când ești la checkout pe unul dintre cele 25.000+ de magazine pe care le acoperim și testează automat codurile relevante, păstrându-l pe cel mai bun. Pentru utilizator, înseamnă reducere fără bătaie de cap. Pentru noi, înseamnă feedback real, în timp real, despre ce coduri chiar funcționează.

A treia este partea pe care nimeni n-o vede, dar care face restul posibil: o platformă proprie care rulează DontPayFull pe șase piețe anglofone și Shopilo pe șapte piețe europene - curând mult mai multe, fiecare cu identitate locală, conținut local și parteneri locali. Investim mult și în partea de date structurate, adică în felul în care motoarele de căutare înțeleg paginile noastre. Aici cred că suntem printre cei mai avansați din nișa de cupoane la nivel global.

Care sunt diferențele majore dintre piața din România și cele din US sau Irlanda, de exemplu, în privința afilierii?

Sunt câteva diferențe care sar în ochi imediat ce treci granița.

Prima ține de maturitatea ecosistemului de ecommerce. În US sau UK ai zeci de mii de magazine online care investesc in afiliere, cu o plaja imensă de cumpărători. Concurența este intensă, atât în ceea ce privește captarea atenției utilizatorilor, retenția lor prin programe de loializare, sisteme sofisticate de upselling si coduri de reducere targetate.

Asta inseamnă o complexitate crescută atât pentru cumpărători, cât și pentru magazine, dar și un obicei bine împământenit de a căuta cel mai bun deal dintr-o paleta largă de opțiuni. 

Un cumpărător american sau irlandez caută activ un cod înainte de checkout, e un reflex format de zece, cincisprezece ani. În România, comportamentul ăsta există, dar e mult mai puțin generalizat. Mulți cumpărători nu se gândesc nici măcar să caute un cod. Asta înseamnă și o oportunitate, sincer, pentru că piața e încă în plină educare, iar cine se așază bine acum va fi prezent acolo când reflexul devine standard.

În ceea ce privește sistemele de afiliere, sunt câteva diferențe majore. Rețelele internaționale au investit masiv in extinderea portofoliilor de magazine și sisteme de tracking sofisticate, având volume considerabile de tranzacții pe care le intermediază.

Cu toate acestea, nivelul de suport pe care afiliații îl primesc este extrem de scăzut. Programele de afiliere sunt construite cu un grad destul de scăzut de transparență și reguli minime de legislație din partea rețelelor. Volumele de magazine și publisheri activi duc la un control mai redus al calității. Datele puse la dispoziție atât magazinelor cât și publisherilor sunt minime, ceea ce face descoperirea de noi relații și optimizarea campaniilor o loterie care costa timp și bani. 

BusinessLeague oferă tuturor jucătorilor din afiliere o paleta generoasă de date și transparență nemaiîntâlnită în alte rețele. Asta permite evaluarea rapidă a oportunităților, descoperirea mult mai ușoară a partenerilor și calibrare aproape instantanee cu ceea ce se întâmplă în piață. Rețeaua defiește riguros regulile de joc și abaterile sunt rapid identificate și corectate.

Ca afiliat, ai posibilitatea să planifici strategic creșterea și să construiești parteneriate în ritmul tău, știind ca programele de afiliere au o stabilitate mare. Preavizul, viteza și siguranța încasărilor, terms and conditions clare sunt toate avantaje nete pentru BusinessLeague în ochii unui afiliat internațional. Nu mai vorbesc de nivelul de suport al echipei, care nu se compară cu ceea ce am întâlnit pe alte piețe. 

Cu ce tipuri de magazine căutați să lucrați în BusinessLeague? Aveți un profil anume?

Da, avem un profil destul de clar, deși nu rigid. Ne interesează magazinele care folosesc în mod curent codurile de reducere ca parte a strategiei lor de conversie și fidelizare. Nișele unde un cod de reducere chiar mișcă acul în decizia de cumpărare.

Realitatea este că utilizatorii noștri sunt sensibili la preț și noi putem interveni tocmai în acest punct final în care un mic incentive extra poate face diferența între un coș abandonat și o plata realizată. De aceea, codurile exclusive sunt principalul nostru obiectiv, chiar mai mare decât monetizarea propriu-zisă. 

Dincolo de asta, pentru noi contează foarte mult dacă echipa de afiliere e activă, ne răspunde, ne dă coduri reale și ne implică în campanii. Un program tăcut nu funcționează nici pentru ei, nici pentru noi.

Care sunt așteptările voastre în ceea ce privește progresul în competiție?

Suntem mai degrabă realiști decât ambițioși cu orice preț. Ne dorim creștere stabilă pe termen lung, motiv pentru care am ales să creștem numărul de magazine treptat și controlat. Suntem în punctul în care ne concentrăm pe fundamentele tehnice și operaționale care ne vor oferi creștere pe viior. 

Acestea fiind spuse, ne place competiția și avem o echipă care lucrează serios. Dacă rezultatele ne duc în primele locuri, cu atât mai bine. Dar criteriul real de succes pentru noi la finalul competiției va fi câte parteneriate noi am construit, câți utilizatori am adus în zona de cupoane care nu erau acolo înainte și câte magazine au descoperit că un site de cupoane bine făcut poate fi un canal predictibil de vânzări, nu doar o coadă pentru last-click.

Ați testat și alte platforme de afiliere? Ce diferențe vezi între ele și BusinessLeague?

Am răspuns deja în bună parte la întrebarea nr. 4. Lucrăm de paisprezece ani cu cele mai mari rețele internaționale: CJ Affiliate, Rakuten, Awin, ShareASale, TradeDoubler, Skimlinks, Impact, Performance Horizon, AvantLink, Pepperjam. În România, ne concentrăm activ cu 90% din portofoliu pe 2Performant/Business League.

Rețelele mari internaționale au unelte foarte bine puse la punct: API-uri stabile, rapoarte detaliate, plăți la timp, suport tehnic. Pierd însă uneori la nivelul relației, ești un cont între mii și nu prea poți negocia condiții personalizate dacă nu ești foarte mare.

Rețelele locale, atât în Vest cât și în România, câștigă la apropierea de magazin. Vorbești direct cu echipa, ajustezi rapid o campanie, primești coduri exclusive.

BusinessLeague este interesantă pentru că pune accentul pe relația directă și pe vizibilitate competitivă, ceea ce te forțează să demonstrezi valoare reală, nu doar să stai în coadă. Pentru un publisher care vrea să-și construiască o reputație pe o piață nouă, formatul ăsta are sens. Pentru un magazin, este o ocazie să vadă cu cine merită să construiască relații pe termen lung.

Cum vezi evoluția afilierii pe termen mediu-lung? Atât în România, cât și pe piețele vestice.

Pe termen mediu, văd două forțe care trag în direcții diferite și care vor remodela industria.

Pe de o parte, presiunea pe confidențialitate, dispariția cookie-urilor terțe, schimbările din browsere și - mai ales - creșterea galopantă a 0-click searches din principalele motoare de căutare va pune presiune pe sistemele de tracking, modul în care se face atribuirea și însăși filozofia din spatele parteneriatelor și afilierii în general.

Pe de altă parte, ușurința cu care se poate porni sau copia un concept cu ajutorul AI va duce pe termen scurt la scalarea masiva a concurenței din majoritatea nișelor de afiliere, de multe ori cu o calitate îndoielnică a conținutului. Asta deschide spațiu pentru jucători care au construit tehnologie proprie, încredere, transparență și relații curate cu retailerii. Noi suntem în categoria asta și o spunem fără falsă modestie.

Evoluția va fi în adâncime: integrări mai strânse cu retailerii, conținut produs cu ajutorul AI dar verificat și asumat de oameni, parteneriate de tip media commerce între publisheri mari și branduri. Diferența o vor face cei care înțeleg că afilierea nu mai poate fi un canal pasiv. Trebuie să aduci valoare reală în decizia de cumpărare.

În România, paradoxal, procesul de maturizare al afilierii se va întâmpla mai repede decât a durat în Vest, pentru că pornim de la o bază mult mai solidă de transparență, filozofie de produs și principii etice. Potențialul de creștere este semnificativ.

We recently surpassed 1,100,000 sales generated in BusinessLeague.com Season 5, which started on 1 December 2025 — a 11% increase year-on-year.

Total sales value in this period exceeded €60,000,000 ex-VAT, with an average platform-level ROAS of 11.6, built on more than 30,000,000 clicks and a conversion rate of 3.7%.

While Romanian e-commerce is under pressure, we keep growing. The reason is simple: the platform we built with significant investment automates:

• direct collaboration between hundreds of stores and thousands of affiliates,
• real-time traffic measurement,
• automated sales attribution across every traffic source, on the Last Click Wins model assumed by every BusinessLeague affiliate,
• payments for confirmed sales — all from a single point of contact.

BusinessLeague affiliates generate sales more efficiently than any other way to buy traffic online. It's time to accelerate.

What changes

From July 1st, 2026

01
We move from 24 store categories to 47, aligned with the Google taxonomy.

02
We adjust network commission to market reality and traffic costs per category.

03
We unify the monthly subscription at €99 + VAT.

04
We introduce loyalty and performance discounts.

In practice: for stores where the commission decreases — that saving goes directly into increased affiliate commissions.

For stores where the commission increases — the additional amount does the same.

The main goal: more sales for BusinessLeague stores, profitable for all partners involved.

Average estimated platform ROAS after the adjustment: 10.22 — still far above any other way to buy traffic.

The category restructure and the new standard commission per category, plus loyalty and performance discounts, are available on businessleague.com. Stores have received a personalized email regarding their programme and will also see the new conditions when the login in the platform.

We keep growing together.
Here's to more conversions, everyone!

Dorin Boerescu
CEO & Chairman of the Board, 2Performant Network S.A

Recent am depășit 1,100,000 de vânzări generate în sezonul 5 BusinessLeague.com, început pe 1 decembrie 2025, în creștere cu 11% față de perioada similară din sezonul 4.

Valoarea totală a vânzărilor în această perioadă a depășit €60,000,000 fără TVA, cu un ROAS mediu la nivel de platformă de 11.6, pe baza unui volum total de trafic de peste 30,000,000 clickuri și o rată de conversie de 3,7%.

În timp ce e-commerce-ul românesc e sub presiune, noi continuăm să creștem. Explicația e simplă - platforma pe care am construit-o cu investiții semnificative automatizează:

• colaborarea directă dintre sute de magazine și mii de afiliați
• măsurarea în timp real a traficului
• atribuirea automată a vânzărilor pentru toate sursele de trafic, pe baza modelului Last Click Wins, asumat de toți afiliații din BusinessLeague
• plățile pentru vânzările confirmate - totul dintr-un singur punct de contact

Afiliații din BusinessLeague generează vânzări mai eficient decât orice altă modalitate de a cumpăra trafic online. Este momentul să accelerăm.

Ce se schimbă

De la 1 iulie 2026

01
Trecem de la 24 de categorii de magazine la 47, aliniate cu taxonomia Google.

02
Ajustăm comisionul de rețea la realitatea pieței și costurile traficului pe fiecare categorie.

03
Uniformizăm abonamentul lunar la €99 + TVA.

04
Aplicăm discounturi de vechime și performanță.

Concret: La magazinele unde comisionul scade - economia respectivă se duce direct în comisioane mărite pentru afiliați.

La magazinele unde comisionul crește - suma suplimentară face același lucru.

Scopul principal: și mai multe vânzări pentru magazinele din BusinessLeague, profitabile pentru toți partenerii implicați.

ROAS mediu estimat al platformei după ajustare: 10.22, în continuare mult peste orice altă modalitate de a cumpăra trafic.

Modificările de structură a categoriilor și comisionul standard pe fiecare, plus discounturile pentru vechime și performanță sunt disponibile
pe businessleague.com, iar cele aferente programului fiecărui magazin au fost trimise pe email și sunt afișate magazinelor în platformă.

Continuăm să creștem împreună.

Spor la conversii™ tuturor!

Dorin Boerescu
CEO & Președinte CA, 2Performant Network S.A.

Background

I have been working at the company for about 8 years, during which I have gone through several roles, and for nearly 2 years I have held the position of Marketing Manager. Speaking of ads, over time I worked with various marketing agencies until we decided to keep the advertising side in-house, giving us greater control over it.

The idea of affiliate marketing has been around for a long time, but it wasn't our focus until last year when we started discussions with 2Performant. In January we managed to launch it, and since then we have been growing.

About the accelerated growth in BusinessLeague

Yes, it was a very nice growth — maybe next year we'll reach Unicorns. We started from approximately 1,100 conversions in February and reached nearly 2,500 in April, which confirmed for us that the direction is a good one.

Several things coming together made a big difference. We are a well-known brand in the Romanian IT&C market - "GSMnet – your phone's store" turns 19 next month, and the company behind the brand has 21 years of experience.

On top of that, we have reached nearly 45,000 products on the site, we have an app developed for iOS and Android, and the speed with which orders leave our warehouse is a major advantage for us. In other words, we are attractive.

Which affiliates do you work best with?

It's too early to answer that question — let's have another conversation in a year. I'm glad I managed to meet a few of them at your event in April.

I try as much as possible to maintain a connection outside of BusinessLeague with affiliates for any issues that may arise during our collaboration. I believe it should be a relationship where all parties involved benefit, and for that, communication and mutual understanding are essential.

I hope not to miss too many events organized by you, because I can see you have a great community that we also want to be part of.

How does affiliate marketing deliver for you compared to other channels?

I can tell you it is an increasingly important channel for us, one that is broadening our horizons when it comes to our external sites. I like that, even though it is a single channel for us, it is very diversified, giving us access to different communities that would otherwise have been very difficult to reach.

Among the main benefits I would also mention the fact that we only pay for completed sales. I think it's important that, beyond having access to an affiliate's know-how, they also use their own budget, which makes them much more engaged and performance-oriented. That said, everything that comes from affiliate marketing doesn't replace the other communication channels we use — it complements them.

BusinessLeague in one word

Performance — because the entire ecosystem is built around concrete results.

19 years. Happy anniversary!

Thank you! Yes, we will mark this milestone with a dedicated anniversary campaign, running from June 26 to July 6. Customers can expect many products with very good discounts, as well as special surprises prepared for this anniversary. We want this anniversary to be a special one, and this is just the beginning — we're preparing a summer full of surprises and interesting campaigns for our community.

Gsmnet.de

Gsmnet.de is a passion project for us, which we see as one of the "younger brothers" of GSMnet.ro. Essentially, we wanted to take the experience and know-how built in Romania to international markets as well.

The current landscape is very favorable for cross-border eCommerce — the market is increasingly moving in this direction, and we feel it would be a shame not to ride this wave ourselves.

Affiliate marketing plays a very important role in our international growth strategy because it helps us scale faster and more efficiently. We gain access to affiliates' experience in markets and locations where we don't yet have enough advertising expertise, and this greatly helps us understand consumer behavior and the specifics of each market more quickly.

BusinessLeague, the world's first e-commerce championship

The gamification mechanic is interesting. The fact that it turns everything into an ongoing competition makes you much more engaged in all activities and constantly tracking performance. It essentially turns affiliate marketing into a competitive game where everyone tries to optimize, scale, and climb as high as possible in the rankings.

My favorite challenge is the Speed Run, where we even managed to win a few times.

Advice for affiliates

Communication — I am just one message away. I believe strongly in direct and fast collaboration, because when there is good communication, things move much faster, more efficiently, and much better results emerge on both sides.

Since launching on the platform, you've seen a massive influx of completely new customers — people who hadn't ordered in years. How do you view the balance between new vs. returning customers brought through affiliate marketing, and how much does this "fresh blood" weigh in your business decisions?

This is one of the most valuable things I have observed from affiliate marketing. I looked quite granularly at the orders coming through this channel and noticed a very high percentage of both completely new customers and customers reactivated after a long period of time.

For us, it matters a great deal to constantly grow our active customer base, as well as the retention opportunities that come along with these new or reactivated customers.

Ultimately, I believe affiliate marketing is not just about immediate conversions, but also about long-term growth that supports the healthy development of our business.

Background

Lucrez in companie de aproximativ 8 ani, timp in care am trecut prin mai multe roluri, iar de aproape 2 ani ocup pozitia de Marketing Manager. Vorbind despre ads-uri, de-a lungul timpului am lucrat cu diferite agentii de marketing pana ce am decis sa tinem intern partea de reclame, avand un mai mare control asupra lor.

Ideea cu afilierea o avem de mult, insa nu a fost in focusul nostru pana anul trecut cand am inceput discutiile cu 2Performant. In ianuarie am reusit sa-i dam drumul si de atunci suntem pe crestere.

Despre creșterea accelerată în BusinessLeague

Da, a fost o crestere foarte frumoasa, poate la anul ajungem Unicorns. Am pornit de la aproximativ 1.100 de conversii in februarie si am ajuns la aproape 2.500 in aprilie, ceea ce pentru noi a confirmat că directia este una buna.

Au contat foarte mult mai multe lucruri puse cap la cap. Suntem un brand cunoscut pe piata romaneasca de IT&C — „GSMnet – magazinul telefonului tau” implineste luna viitoare 19 ani, iar compania din spatele brandului face 21 de ani de experienta.

Pe langa asta, am ajuns la aproape 45.000 de produse pe site, avem aplicatie dezvoltata pentru IOS si Android iar rapiditatea cu care pleaca comenzile de la noi din depozit este un mare avantaj pentru noi. Cu alte cuvinte, suntem atragatori.

Cu ce afiliați lucrați cel mai bine?

Este devreme sa pot raspunde la aceasta intrebare, daca vrei mai facem o discutie peste 1 an. Ma bucur ca am reusit sa cunosc cativa la evenimentul vostru din aprilie.

Ma straduiesc pe cat posibil sa am o legatura si in afara BusinessLeague cu afiliatii pentru orice fel de probleme pot aparea pe parcursul colaborarii noastre. Sunt de parere ca trebuie sa fie o relatie in care sa castige toate partile implicate si in acest sens este nevoie de comunicare si cunoastere reciprioca.

Imi doresc sa nu scap prea multe evenimente organizate de voi pentru ca vad ca aveti o comunitate frumoasa din care vrem si noi sa facem parte.

Cum livrează afilierea entrut voi, în comparație cu alte canale?

Iti pot spune ca e un canal din ce in ce mai important pentru noi care ne face sa ne marim orizonturile in ce priveste site-urile noastre externe. Imi place ca desi pentru noi este un singur canal, el este foarte diversificat si astfel avem acces la diferite comunitati la care altfel ar fi fost foarte greu sa ajungem.

De asemenea, printre beneficiile principale as aminti si de faptul ca platim doar pentru vanzari realizate. Consider ca este important ca pe langa faptul ca ai acces la know-how-ul unui afiliat, in acelasi timp el isi foloseste propiul buget, lucru care il face mult mai implicat si orientat catre performanta. Totusi, tot ce vine din afiliere nu inlocuieste restul de canale de comunicare pe care le folosim, ci le completeaza.

BusinessLeague într-un singur cuvânt

Performanta - Pentru ca tot ecosistemul este construit in jurul rezultatelor concrete.

19 ani. La la mulți ani!

Mulțumim! Da, vom marca acest moment printr-o campanie aniversara dedicata, care se va desfasura in perioada 26.06 – 06.07. Clientii se pot astepta la multe produse cu reduceri foarte bune, dar si la surprize pregatite special pentru aceasta aniversare. Ne dorim ca aceasta aniversare sa fie una speciala iar acesta este doar inceputul — pregatim o vara plina de surprize si campanii interesante pentru comunitatea noastra.

Gsmnet.de

Gsmnet.de este un proiect de suflet pentru noi, pe care il vedem ca pe unul dintre „fratii mai mici” ai lui GSMnet.ro. Practic, ne-am dorit să ducem mai departe experienta si know-how-ul construit în Romania si catre pietele externe.

Contextul actual este unul foarte bun pentru cross-border eCommerce, piata merge tot mai mult in directia aceasta si consideram ca ar fi pacat sa nu profitam si noi de acest val.

Afilierea joacă un rol foarte important în strategia noastra de crestere internationala pentru ca ne ajuta sa scalam mai rapid si mai eficient. Avem acces la experienta afiliatilor pe piete si localizari unde noi nu avem inca suficienta experienta in zona de advertising, iar acest lucru ne ajuta enorm sa intelegem mai repede comportamentul consumatorilor si particularitatile fiecarei piete.

BusinessLeague, primul campionat de e-commerce din lume

Mecanica de gamification este interesanta. Faptul ca transforma totul intr-o competitie continua te face sa fii mult mai implicat in toate actiunile si sa urmaresti constant performanta. Practic, transforma afilierea într-un joc competitiv in care toata lumea incearca sa optimizeze, sa scaleze si sa urce cat mai sus în clasament.

Challenge-ul preferat este Speed Run-ul unde chiar am reusit si cateva castiguri.

Sfaturi pentru afiliați

Comunicare — sunt la un mesaj distanta. Cred foarte mult in colaborarea directa și rapida, pentru ca atunci cand exista o comunicare buna, lucrurile se misca mult mai repede, mai eficient si apar rezultate mult mai bune de ambele parti.

De când v-ați lansat în platformă, ați văzut un aflux masiv de clienți complet noi pe site, oameni care nu mai comandaseră de ani de zile. Cum vezi această pondere între clienți noi vs. recurenți aduși prin afiliere și cât de mult cântărește acest „fresh blood” în deciziile voastre de business? 

Este unul dintre cele mai valoroase lucruri pe care le-am observat din afiliere. M-am uitat destul de granular la comenzile venite prin acest canal si am observat un procent foarte mare atat de clienti complet noi, cat si de clienti reactivati după o perioada lunga de timp.

 Pentru noi contează foarte mult sa creștem constant baza de clienti activi, dar si oportunitatile de retentie care vin la pachet cu acesti clienti noi sau reactivati.

 In final, cred ca afilierea nu inseamna doar conversii imediate, ci si crestere pe termen lung care ne ajuta la o dezvoltare sanatoasa a businessului.

One trend I’ve been noticing in BusinessLeague.com over the last ~8 months: CSS / Google Search / PPC affiliates seem to be converting better.

At first, I thought it might be isolated. But the more data I looked at, the more it felt like something broader might be happening. Not necessarily “Google is back”. But perhaps: high-intent Search traffic is becoming relatively stronger again.

What makes this interesting for us is that we can see this across hundreds of stores inside BusinessLeague . In the first 4 months of this year:

📈 739 stores generated 743,990 orders through BusinessLeague.com;
📈 Orders grew +9.5% YoY;
📉 Click volume remained almost flat at 20.4M (-1.8% YoY) but with a slight increase from CSS and PPC affiliates, in general;
📈 Average conversion rate reached 3.64%, up +11.5% YoY

In other words: more sales from roughly the same amount of traffic. That usually points to one thing: Better traffic efficiency. And I don’t think this is driven by a single factor. My impression is that several things are converging at the same time:

• CSS partners and PPC affiliates are becoming much more sophisticated;
• optimisation across multiple product feeds creates stronger signals;
• machine learning improves bidding and product selection;
• PPC/CSS affiliates optimise differently compared to agencies because they operate with their own capital at risk;
• affiliates managing Shopping traffic see demand patterns across many merchants, categories and markets, before any store sees in its own data;
• Google keeps pushing AI-driven optimisation deeper into Shopping and Search.

And maybe equally important: while a lot of digital traffic became more fragmented and discovery-oriented over the last years…

Google still captures one of the strongest commercial intents on the internet, even in the AI era.People searching for:

→ products
→ prices
→ alternatives
→ reviewsare often much closer to conversion.

Of course, this doesn’t mean:
- Search works better for every store
- CSS is a magic solution
- fundamentals no longer matter.

Stores still need:
✔ competitive pricing
✔ strong product feeds
✔ good UX✔ reliable operations
✔ solid conversion rates

But it increasingly feels like strong Search intent + better optimisation layers + AI-assisted campaign management is becoming a very powerful combination.

Background & more

I started out as an e-commerce entrepreneur — I had my own stores, sold online, and had to bring in customers. Simple enough.

My first ads were made without really knowing what I was doing. It was like billiards: you buy a token first, then you learn to play. I put money in, lost some, understood something. Put more in, understood more. Quality came from quantity, not the other way around.

Performance marketing came later — after I understood that paid advertising isn't an expense, it's a tool you can calculate. And I discovered affiliate marketing through Lucian, my agency partner. He was already deep in that space on 2Performant, and through him my perspective opened up: you can do marketing at scale, not just for your own store.

I didn't read marketing books before I started. My usual schedule looked something like this: 4 to 7 AM — ads. 8 to 1 PM — dealing with inventory. 2 to 5 PM — parcels. 5 PM until late at night — ads again. Then sleep. Repeat. Groundhog Day 😄

The advantage of those years, beyond the skills I gained, is that I've walked in the shoes of the clients I work with today at the agency. I know what they go through, what they feel, why they make the decisions they make. I understand them. And that's something you can't learn in any course.

How would you describe BusinessLeague in a single sentence?

BusinessLeague.com is the only place where performance marketing becomes a sport — with real rankings, prizes, and adrenaline — and where every sale counts twice: for the advertiser and for the affiliate.

What's your favorite Challenge in the platform and why?

Target Strike — because it's about how well you calibrate your campaigns for a specific store. It's not chance. It's math.

Which stores do you work with best on the platform, and what are the ingredients of that success?

My best partnership on the platform is with the stores in the Otter group.

The recipe? A partner who understands that an affiliate's motivation translates directly into how much and how consistently they work on that account. Fair commission, updated feed, fast approvals. When you feel treated like a real partner, you work differently. You give more. You get more involved. And in the end, you earn more.

Perhaps other advertisers reading this will ask themselves the right question: why do some affiliates send more traffic to certain stores and less to others? The answer is simpler than they'd like to believe.

If you could change one thing about BusinessLeague, what would it be?

I think the greatest value an experienced affiliate can bring to an advertiser isn't immediately visible — it's built over time, with patience, within an ecosystem that works for everyone.

When that ecosystem works well, everyone wins: the advertiser grows, the affiliate earns, the network strengthens. When someone decides to cut corners and take the game off the field — in either direction — they're not cutting anything short. They're damaging something others built with real effort.

I have no problem saying I know how to do good marketing. But the place where I do it, and the rules I follow, matter just as much as the result.

Why is there still hesitation around affiliate marketing from stores?

The hesitation comes, largely, from a lack of knowledge. Not bad faith — just lack of knowledge. Affiliate marketing is the only marketing channel where you pay strictly for results: you don't pay for a click, you don't pay for a view, you don't pay for intent — you pay for a confirmed sale. But if you don't truly understand that, you stay on the surface: low commission, delayed approvals, poorly updated feed.

As an advertiser, you are a product in a market. The affiliate looks at your conversion rate, your EPC, how quickly you validate and pay — and decides in seconds whether it's worth investing their traffic in you or someone else. They don't call you, don't negotiate, don't ask for your offer. They compare. And if you're unprepared, they move on. Then you wonder why affiliate marketing "doesn't work for you." It's not the channel — it's the relationship you built with it.

So the right question isn't "should I open an affiliate program?" — it's "am I ready to be an attractive advertiser?" Do you have a site that converts? Do you know your margin and can you sustain a real commission? Are you willing to validate promptly and pay on time? If yes to all three, affiliate marketing is waiting for you. If not, fix that first — and only then open the program.

This isn't theory. In BusinessLeague on 2Performant you'll find: bookzone.ro, drmax.ro, springfarma.com, otter.ro, carturesti.ro, answear.ro, fashiondays.ro, petmax.ro, noriel.ro, libris.ro, scule365.ro, petmart.ro. Books, pharmacy, fashion, toys, tools. They don't share a category — they share the decision that affiliate marketing is a channel worth taking seriously.

Tell us about your education project.

I believe people were put on this earth to multiply good. After hundreds of conversations with e-commerce entrepreneurs, I've come to the conclusion that many of them don't know how to think through their business.

Some are just starting out and have no way of knowing. Others have been in entrepreneurship for years and still haven't clarified the fundamentals: margin, markup, break-even, how to build their pricing, what healthy cash flow looks like. They want sales, they want a ROAS. End of story. And without these foundations, you end up selling at any price, putting any product in your store, demanding impossible results from everyone who works with you — and wondering why it's not working.

That's how the blog on mugurifrim.ro emerged — more than it was built.

I write about the basics, with real examples. The goal is simple: you should have something useful in hand after reading. What you do with that information is also up to you.

How do you see affiliate marketing in the medium and long term?

I think affiliate marketing will grow in Romania, but not on its own. It will grow as entrepreneurs become better educated — by the network, by affiliates, by anyone with the patience to explain. Because hesitation doesn't come from bad will. It comes from fear. And fear comes from lack of knowledge.

If you don't understand a channel, you're not comfortable with it. If you're not comfortable, you're not convinced. If you're not 100% convinced, the automatic answer is no — or a half-hearted yes, which is worse than a clear no.

In the long run, I see affiliate marketing naturally integrated into the mix of any serious store. But for that, more education is needed — at scale, not just person to person.

Background & more

Am inceput ca antreprenor de e-commerce — aveam magazinele mele, vindeam online si a trebuit sa atrag clienti. Simplu.

Primele mele reclame le-am facut fara sa stiu prea bine ce fac. A fost ca la biliard: mai intai cumperi fisa, abia dupa inveti sa joci. Am bagat bani, am pierdut o parte, am inteles ceva. Am mai bagat, am mai inteles. Din cantitate a venit calitatea, nu invers.

Performance marketing-ul a venit dupa — dupa ce am inteles ca reclama platita nu e o cheltuiala, ci un instrument care se poate calcula. Iar afilierea am descoperit-o prin Lucian, partenerul meu din agentie. El era deja adanc in zona asta pe 2Performant, si prin el mi s-a deschis perspectiva ca poti face marketing la scara, nu doar pe magazinul tau.

N-am citit carti de marketing inainte sa incep. Programul meu obisnuit arata cam asa: de la 4 la 7 dimineata — reclame. De la 8 la 13 — la marfa. De la 14 la 17 — colete. De la 17 pana seara tarziu — iar reclame. Apoi somn. Repeat. Ziua cartitei :D

Avantajul acelor ani, dincolo de skillurile dobandite, este ca am fost in papucii clientilor cu care lucrez azi in agentie. Stiu ce traiesc ei, ce simt, de ce iau deciziile pe care le iau. Ii inteleg. Si asta nu se invata la niciun curs.

Cum ai descrie BusinessLeague într-o singură propoziție/frază?

BusinessLeague.com e singurul loc in care performance marketing-ul devine sport cu clasament, premii si adrenalina reala — si in care fiecare vanzare conteaza dublu: si pentru advertiser, si pentru afiliat.

Care e Challenge-ul tău preferat din platformă și de ce?

Target Strike - deoarece conteaza cat de bine iti calibrezi campaniile pentru un magazin anume. Nu este intamplare. Este matematica.

Cu ce magazine lucrezi cel mai bine în platformă și care sunt ingredientele acestei reușite?

Cel mai bun parteneriat al meu in platforma e cu magazinele din grupul Otter. 

Reteta? Un partener care intelege ca motivatia unui afiliat se traduce direct in cat de mult si cat de consistent lucreaza pe contul lui. Comision corect, feed actualizat, aprobari rapide. Cand simti ca esti tratat ca un partener real, lucrezi altfel. Dai mai mult. Te implici mai mult. Si pana la urma castigi mai mult.

Poate ca si alti advertiseri care citesc asta isi pun intrebarea corecta: de ce unii afiliati trimit mai mult trafic la anumite magazine si mai putin la altele? Raspunsul e mai simplu decat ar vrea sa creada.

Dacă ar fi să schimbi un singur lucru în BusinessLeague, care ar fi?

Cred ca cea mai mare valoare pe care o poate aduce un afiliat experimentat unui advertiser nu e vizibila imediat — se construieste in timp, cu rabdare, in cadrul unui ecosistem care functioneaza pentru toata lumea.

Cand acel ecosistem functioneaza bine, toti castiga: advertiserul creste, afiliatul castiga, reteaua se consolideaza. Cand cineva decide sa scurteze drumul si sa scoata jocul din teren — indiferent de directie — nu scurteaza nimic. Strica ceva ce altii au construit cu efort.

Nu am nicio problema sa spun ca stiu sa fac marketing bun. Dar locul in care fac asta, si regulile dupa care o fac, conteaza la fel de mult ca rezultatul.

De ce există încă reticență în privința afilierii, din partea magazinelor?

Reticenta vine, in mare parte, din necunoastere. Nu rea-credinta — necunoastere. Afilierea e singurul canal de marketing in care platesti strict la rezultat: nu platesti pentru click, nu platesti pentru vizualizare, nu platesti pentru intent — platesti pentru vanzare confirmata. Dar daca nu intelegi asta cu adevarat, ramai la suprafata: comision mic, aprobare intarziata, feed prost actualizat.

Tu, ca advertiser, esti un produs pe o piata. Afiliatul se uita la rata ta de conversie, la EPC, la cat de repede validezi si platesti — si decide in cateva secunde daca merita sa-si investeasca traficul in tine sau in altcineva. Nu te suna, nu negociaza, nu iti cere oferta. Compara. Si daca esti nepregatit, trece mai departe. Si dupa te intrebi de ce afilierea "nu merge la tine". Nu e afilierea — e relatia pe care ai construit-o cu ea.

Asa ca intrebarea corecta nu e "merit sa deschid un program de afiliere?" — ci "sunt pregatit sa fiu un advertiser atractiv?" Ai un site care converteste? Stii marja si poti sustine un comision real? Esti dispus sa validezi prompt si sa platesti la timp? Daca da la toate trei, afilierea te asteapta. Daca nu, mai intai rezolva asta — si abia dupa deschide programul.

Nu e teorie. In Business League din 2Performant gasesti: bookzone.ro, drmax.ro, springfarma.com, otter.ro, carturesti.ro, answear.ro, fashiondays.ro, petmax.ro, noriel.ro, libris.ro, scule365.ro, petmart.ro, Carti, farmacie, fashion, jucarii, unelte. Nu au in comun categoria — au in comun decizia ca afilierea e un canal pe care merita sa il tratezi serios.7.

Povestește-ne despre proiectul tău de educație. 

Eu cred ca omul a fost lasat pe pamant sa inmulteasca binele. Dupa sute de discutii cu antreprenori de e-commerce, am ajuns la concluzia ca multi dintre ei nu stiu cum sa-si gandeasca afacerea.

Unii sunt la inceput si n-au de unde sti. Altii sunt de ani buni in antreprenoriat si tot nu si-au clarificat lucrurile fundamentale: marja, adaos, break-even, cum isi construiesc pretul, ce inseamna un cashflow sanatos. Vor vanzari, vor un ROAS. End of story. Si daca nu ai aceste fundamente, ajungi sa vinzi la orice pret, sa pui orice produs in magazin, sa ceri rezultate imposibile de la oricine lucreaza cu tine — si sa te miri de ce nu iese.

Asa a aparut, mai degraba decat a fost construit, blogul de pe mugurifrim.ro

Scriu despre lucrurile de baza, cu exemple reale. Scopul e simplu: sa ai ceva util in mana dupa ce citesti. Ce faci tu apoi cu informatiile astea — mai tine si de tine.

Cum vezi afilierea pe termen mediu și lung?

Cred ca afilierea va creste in Romania, dar nu de la sine. Va creste pe masura ce antreprenorii vor fi mai educati — de retea, de afiliati, de oricine are rabdarea sa explice. Pentru ca reticenta nu vine din rea-vointa. Vine din frica. Iar frica vine din necunoastere.

Daca nu intelegi un canal, nu esti confortabil cu el. Daca nu esti confortabil, nu esti convins. Daca nu esti convins 100%, raspunsul e automat nu — sau un da la jumatate, care e mai rau decat un nu clar. 

Pe termen lung, vad afilierea integrata natural in mixul oricarui magazin serios. Dar pentru asta mai e nevoie de educatie — la scara, nu doar din om in om.

Background & more

I started in performance marketing and gradually found my way into the affiliate world, where I've been ever since. At Selltoro, I lead the affiliate team - which means everything from building and managing partnerships with e-shops across European markets, to working with affiliate networks, overseeing CSS campaign compliance, and coordinating with our PPC team.

Selltoro is a Google CSS Publisher active across 20+ European countries, which means the work is never just one thing - every market has its own dynamics, its own networks, its own quirks. I like that about it.

Your progress in BusinessLeague

We're currently sitting at 5th place in the Companies category - though that's a moving target, we've competed at the Corporations level too and that's where we're aiming to get back. Our generated sales value has crossed €60,500, which we're happy about.

The strategy behind our progress is one we've refined over time: we work well with merchants of all sizes, but we've found a real sweet spot with small and mid-size e-shops. With larger merchants, CSS is often a crowded field - many publishers already in the mix, margins tighter, less room to make a real difference.

Knowing when a space is oversaturated is just as valuable as knowing when to push. With smaller merchants, we can genuinely shape their growth story, and that's where we tend to shine.

We follow BusinessLeague and enjoy the gamification aspect, but we try not to let it drive our decisions. Our north star is the actual value we're creating for 2Performant and its clients - BusinessLeague is a nice signal, not the strategy itself.

How would you describe BusinessLeague in one sentence?

A fun way to benchmark yourself against the market - as long as you don't let the leaderboard distract you from the actual business.

What's your favorite challenge in the platform and why?

Honestly, I appreciate the challenges that push us to activate new merchants rather than just optimize existing ones. Onboarding a new e-shop, getting the CSS feed live, and seeing the first conversions come in - that's the part of the work I find most rewarding. Any challenge that incentivizes that kind of growth aligns well with what we're already trying to do.

Talk about your work

CSS is a label that comes from Google, but what we actually do is broader: we run product advertising across search engines - Google Shopping primarily, but also Microsoft Ads - and we often operate our own price comparison websites on top of that. Think of us as a performance marketing partner for e-shops, not just a technical middleman.

The core of what we do is product advertising that delivers measurable results. We actively manage feeds, monitor campaign performance, and get to know the merchant's product mix. And because we combine this with an affiliate model - meaning we only earn when a sale happens - the incentives are completely aligned. The merchant pays for results, not just traffic.

What are some shops you have had good success with?

In Q1 2026 our top performers were librarie.net, vioi.ro, and makeupshop.ro. In Q4 2025 it was petmax.ro, laicashop.ro, and makeupshop.ro again - which is a nice sign of consistency.

Makeupshop.ro is actually a great example of what a sustainable partnership looks like. We've been working together since June 2024 - nearly two years - and over that period we've generated over €33,200 in sales and nearly 1,500 conversions.

What I like about this partnership is the stability. The conversion rate in Q1 2026 hit 5.14%, which is strong for a beauty retailer. It's not a flashy overnight success story - it's steady, compounding growth that both sides can plan around.

Q1 2026 - daily clicks vs. conversion rate % (makeupshop.ro via 2Performant)

■ Clicks    ■ Conversion rate %

Data source: 2Performant - Selltoro internal dashboard - Period: 01.06.2024 - 31.03.2026

What's the secret to a lucrative affiliate-shop partnership?

Alignment of expectations from day one. A lot of partnerships stall because the e-shop thinks 'we've added a publisher' and then waits. The ones that work are where there's mutual investment - the merchant keeps their feed clean, updates promotions, and communicates. We optimize, test, and stay proactive.

The other thing is patience: CSS affiliate isn't instant. There's a ramp-up period, and merchants who understand that tend to see much better long-term results.

How come more shops don't add affiliate marketing to their sales mix?

There are a few blockers. First, a lot of e-shops don't fully understand what affiliate is - they confuse it with influencer deals or think it only works for big brands. Second, the setup can feel complicated: choosing a network, setting commissions, managing publishers. And third, there's sometimes a trust issue - merchants worry about brand safety or commission disputes before they've even seen the results.

What needs to happen is better education, simpler onboarding, and more visible success stories from merchants their own size. That's part of why case studies like makeupshop.ro matter - it's not a household brand, it's a real mid-size shop that built something meaningful with the right partner.

If you could change just one thing about BusinessLeague, what would it be?

I'd love to see more visibility into the quality of partnerships, not just the volume. GMV is a great metric, but if the league also rewarded things like merchant retention, new publisher activation, or long-term partnership stability - that would better reflect what good publishing actually looks like, regardless of the channel. Right now there's a slight risk that chasing rankings incentivizes short-term volume over sustainable growth.

How do you leverage AI in your work and how do you see affiliate marketing in the next 5 years?

AI has been part of how we work almost from the start - we saw the potential early and decided to lean in rather than wait. For a mid-size company, that's actually an advantage: we move fast and we're not held back by legacy processes.

In practice, it shows up everywhere. Our campaigns are largely automated, and we've built our own approaches to working with AI and automation so our PPC team can focus on strategy rather than repetitive execution. AI helps us make sense of data faster and spot patterns we might otherwise miss. We've also built internal tools - vibecodeded the first versions ourselves, then handed them to our dev team to properly finish and secure - which has made a real difference in how we work day to day. It even joins our meetings so we can stay present in the conversation instead of taking notes.

And we're not just using AI as a productivity hack. We actually have AI team members now.

For affiliate marketing in the next five years: more consolidation, more automation, and performance-based models continuing to replace fixed placements. CSS publishing will keep growing as Google Shopping evolves. The publishers who rely on volume and manual work will struggle - the ones who build real expertise, real merchant relationships, and smart systems around them will win. The fundamentals won't change: results matter, trust matters, and knowing your verticals matters.

Background
I've been at Dr. Max for over 2 years and I coordinate the digital performance area, covering channels such as PPC, affiliate marketing and retargeting. My role is to constantly optimize the traffic mix and identify opportunities for profitable growth.

How would you describe Dr. Max's progress in BusinessLeague?
With ups and downs, but in a constant evolution. We've had a partnership with 2Performant for almost 5 years and we're still learning from each other how to optimize every click in the network. We constantly test new promotion ideas and innovative ways to activate different communities. It's a dynamic ecosystem where we clearly haven't reached our limits yet.

What are the ingredients of a successful partnership with affiliates?
I believe there are 3 essential ingredients:

• Understanding the affiliate's perspective — each one comes with a different business model
• Clarity in objectives and rules — commissions, expectations, traffic types
• Continuous test & learn — affiliate marketing doesn't work statically, you need to constantly adjust the mix

In the end, it's about finding that "Pareto" that works for your business, but without ignoring the potential of new areas.

Speaking of which, tell us about Bing traffic. What were your expectations, how did it come to perform and with which affiliates alongside you?

Bing traffic appeared naturally as we observed the growing relevance of this channel for us. At the moment we work with a single affiliate, and the beginning is still tentative, but we see good signals in terms of costs and purchase intent. We're confident it's just the beginning and that it can become a scalable channel.

How does affiliate marketing deliver for you compared to other channels?
I don't think a direct comparison is relevant. Affiliate marketing doesn't replace other channels, it complements them. For example, after we stopped using Google CSS, we knew we would lose volume, but the new way of approaching affiliate marketing helped us reach new audiences. It's a channel with very good ROAS that efficiently complements the performance mix.

How would you describe BusinessLeague in one sentence?
The poetry in the performance story of every online business.

What is your favorite Challenge in BusinessLeague and why?
We prefer challenges that stimulate competition between affiliates on volumes or conversions, because they quickly generate traction and visibility in the network. At the same time, we like those that encourage testing new traffic sources.

There is still reluctance from shops to try affiliate marketing. In your opinion, why does this happen?
I think the reluctance comes from a perceived lack of control and the difficulty of understanding exactly how the channel works. Affiliate marketing is not as "predictable" as PPC, and results depend a lot on the relationship with affiliates. In reality, it's a very efficient channel, but it requires patience and continuous optimization.

How do you see affiliate marketing long-term?
Affiliate marketing will remain an important complementary channel for us. I wouldn't make rigid long-term predictions because the digital environment changes very rapidly. What is certain, however, is the need for adaptability — and affiliate marketing is a channel that gives you the flexibility to test and react quickly.

Sunt in Dr. Max de peste 2 ani si coordonez zona de digital performance, acoperind canale precum PPC, afiliere si retargeting. Rolul meu este sa optimizez constant mixul de trafic si sa identific oportunitati de crestere profitabila.

Cum ai descrie progresul Dr. Max în BusinessLeague?

Cu suisuri si coborasuri, dar intr-o evolutie constanta. Avem un parteneriat de aproape 5 ani cu 2Performant si inca invatam unii de la altii cum sa optimizam fiecare click din retea. Testam constant idei noi de promovare si moduri inovatoare de a activa diferite comunitati. Este un ecosistem dinamic, in care clar nu ne-am atins inca limitele.

Care sunt ingredientele unui parteneriat de succes cu afiliații?

Cred ca sunt 3 ingrediente esentiale:

1. Intelegerea perspectivei afiliatului – fiecare vine cu un model diferit de business
2. Claritate in obiective si reguli – comisioane, asteptari, tipuri de trafic
3. Test & learn continuu – afilierea nu functioneaza static, trebuie sa ajustezi constant mixul

In final, este despre a gasi acel „Pareto” care functioneaza pentru businessul tau, dar fara sa ignori potentialul zonelor noi.

Apropo, povestește-ne despre traficul din Bing. Ce așteptări aveați, cum a ajuns să performenze și cu ce afiliați alături?

Traficul din Bing a aparut natural, pe masura ce am observat cresterea relevantei acestui canal pentru noi. Momentan lucram cu un singur afiliat, iar inceputul este inca timid, dar vedem semnale bune din perspectiva costurilor si a intentiei de cumparare. Suntem increzatori ca este doar inceputul si ca poate deveni un canal scalabil.

Cum livrează pentru voi afilierea în comparație cu alte canale?

Nu cred ca este relevanta o comparatie directa. Afilierea nu inlocuieste alte canale, ci le completeaza. De exemplu, dupa ce am renuntat la Google CSS, stiam ca vom pierde volum, dar noul mod de a aborda afilierea ne-a ajutat sa accesam audiente noi. Este un canal cu ROAS foarte bun, care completeaza eficient mixul de performance.

Cum ai descrie BusinessLeague într-o frază/propoziție?

Poezia din povestea de performance a fiecarui business online.

Care este Challenge-ul vostru preferat în BusinessLeague și de ce?

Preferam challenge-urile care stimuleaza competitia intre afiliati pe volume sau conversii, pentru ca genereaza rapid tractiune si vizibilitate in retea. In acelasi timp, ne plac cele care incurajeaza testarea de noi surse de trafic.

Încă există reticență din partea magazinelor să încerce afilierea. În opinia ta, de ce se întâmplă asta?

Cred ca reticenta vine din lipsa de control perceput si din dificultatea de a intelege exact cum functioneaza canalul. Afilierea nu este la fel de „predictibila” ca PPC-ul, iar rezultatele depind mult de relatia cu afiliatii. In realitate, este un canal foarte eficient, dar necesita rabdare si optimizare continua.

Voi cum vedeți afiliarea, long-term? 

Afilierea va ramane pentru noi un canal complementar important. Nu as face predictii rigide pe termen lung, pentru ca mediul digital se schimba foarte rapid. Ce este sigur insa este nevoia de adaptabilitate – iar afilierea este un canal care iti ofera flexibilitatea de a testa si de a reactiona rapid.