buy.at is working with WAYN (Where Are You Now?), the world’s largest travel and lifestyle social networking site, to offer consumers a way to make money from social networking.  The agreement enables WAYN’s UK members to develop fully customisable ‘web shops’ as part of their advanced profile.  Members use a wizard to create wish lists of products they would like to own or recommend to others which are then displayed in their profile.  When contacts or random browsers buy from their web shop the member will receive commission from WAYN.

WAYN is one of the fastest growing travel and lifestyle social networking community websites in the UK.  The partnership uses buy.at’s existing infrastructure, including its relationship with 200 leading brands, and technology such as its ContentEngine, tracking and analytics products, enabling WAYN and its members to profit from web 2.0 sales.

 

Co-Founder and Co-CEO of WAYN.com, Jerome Touze comments, ‘We are in a new era of advertising whereby publishers are becoming smarter at targeting brands to the right consumer. We like to think at WAYN that we are more flexible than most at providing bespoke campaigns for advertisers, so we thought we would combine resources with buy.at and open this up to our members, to offer them a similar form of bespoke solution. Now, WAYN members can convert their popular profiles into revenue generators.’

 

Kevin Cornils, CEO of buy.at explains, ‘Social networks have been extremely successful at growing their member base but sites like WAYN are reluctant to overly-commercialise the experience and drive users away.  This deal empowers WAYN members to profit from their profiles with contextually relevant advertising which also creates a deeper engagement with members and assists with retention, as well as incentivising more people to join WAYN.

 

Cornils continues, ‘We are putting affiliate marketing where the traffic is which will increase sales for the merchants we work with as well as increasing the lifetime value of WAYN’s members.  Advertisers pay buy.at a commission on each sale generated and we will pass this back to WAYN to allocate to their members.’

 

WAYN members will use a wizard linked to buy.at’s ContentEngine technology to customise the layout of their wish list and edit features such as text next to each item.  They can add products of their choice from MP3 players, to sleeping bags and rucksacks to luxury goods and Christmas presents, from retailers including John Lewis, M&S, Carphone Warehouse and Littlewoods.  Other WAYN members can then comment on the lists and add reviews.  Visitors pay on the advertiser’s website and the transaction is tracked and managed by buy.at.  WAYN members can access information such as sales and graphs to show the revenue generated by their profile to date using bespoke buy.at applications embedded in the WAYN interface.  Members will receive information on how to develop their shopping lists and offers when they register and regular emails highlighting further offers. There will also be a new ‘web shop’ for WAYN where members can buy products for themselves, such as broadband or travel insurance, and receive commission. 

 

Jerome Touze adds ‘We have selected buy.at to develop this product with WAYN because of the range of retailers they work with, their innovative technology and their understanding of how to create a revenue stream from user-generated activity.’

 

WAYN has created a community for members to communicate whilst on the move or at home. Global membership has grown from 45,000 users in March 2005 to over nine million today[1].  Members create a profile, log their past, present and future trips, and can find other members based on location.  As well as the new customizable shopping lists, the site has a global online forum, photo and video storage, mailbox options, instant messenger, a travel guide, and worldwide SMS.  The site has been particularly successful with members in the 18 to 25 range as well as having a strong position amongst the 35 to 45 demographic.

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