I wanted to share an exciting update posted by comScore, Inc. on December 3. According to comScore, more than $10.7 billion has been spent online during the 2007 Holiday Season (starting November 1), which is a 17-percent increase from last year.

comScore also reports that Cyber Monday is catching up with Black Friday! Cyber Monday (CM), which is November 26, took up 21 percent of sales, narrowly following Black Friday’s 22 percent contribution to the Holiday Season sales.
comScore Chairman, Gian Fulgoni, said:

“Cyber Monday…, represent(s) the first significant spike in online holiday spending activity… with $733 million in sales, the first time a single day of online retail spending has broken the $700 million threshold.”

Also, the number of online buyers was up 38 percent compared to CM 2006, while average dollars spent was down 12 percent. The decrease in dollars spent can probably be explained by two major things—deeper discounts offered by retailers and “new Cyber Monday buyers” spending less than returning ones.

Nielsen Online reported that CM’s combined home and work traffic to the Holiday

e-Shopping Index reached 32.5 million unique visitors. Many online retailers also saw their visitors more than double compared to the four weeks preceding Cyber Monday, including MSN Shopping, Overstock.com, Wal-Mart, Target, Dell, Best Buy and Circuit City.

Check back for next week’s blog, keeping you up-to-date on the latest in affiliate marketing news.

-The USN Team

United Sharing Network offers the Christian Affiliate Marketing world a plethora of quality Faith and Family offers. USN features top-tier companies such as Abbey Press, Vision Video, Alpha Omega Publications, Clear Play, Blockbuster, Verizon Wireless and the Disney Movie Club.

The company also has exclusive offers from many top-tier companies such as Word of Promise Bible, Mobile Verses, Pure Online, Christian Cinema and more.

USN is now accepting new quality Faith and Family based merchants and affiliate partners. For more information on The United Sharing Network, please contact info@UnitedSharingNetwork.com, or call 813.774.4733. Ext. 304.

In the company’s pre-launch phase, several merchants and affiliates have already experienced improved online sales using the online faith and family affiliate marketing channel developed by the United Sharing Network.

As part of this new affiliate marketing model, the United Sharing Network will:

• Apply stringent screening policies to connect faith and family-based online retailers with likeminded websites, blogs and e-mail marketers.
• Drive traffic, sales and leads on a “Pay Per Performance” basis.
• Provide an opportunity for Faith and Family website publishers to monetize their site’s traffic and provide them with a new passive income stream.

The founders of the United Sharing Network are online industry veterans who saw the need for an Affiliate/CPA Network targeted to serve the growing “Faith and Family” shopping niche.

“We are excited at the opportunity to serve the online Faith and Family marketplace. We feel our business model will add great value to Faith and Family merchants to help them more cost effectively reach their target market. Additionally, we are helping ministries and other faith and family focused websites to raise funds by providing quality affiliate offers for their online communities,” USN Founder and CEO, John Porricolo remarked.

“We’re confident that the time is right for a Faith and Family targeted network. We believe our network can provide these merchants with the positive results they’ve been looking for,” USN co-founder Jack Cain commented.

The United Sharing Network is now accepting new quality Faith and Family based merchants and affiliate partners. For more information on The United Sharing Network, please contact info@UnitedSharingNetwork.com, or call 813.774.4733. Ext. 304

Offer: 8% of sales
Cookie Length: 30 days
Average Order: $56
Conversion Rate: ~5%

Network: United Sharing Network
Creative Available: Banners, Text Links & Product Datafeed coming soon
Target Audience: Female, Christian, Age 35-55
Managed by: USN 

If your site, blog or email newsletter appeals to a Christian family audience or to churches and ministries, the Vision Video program is perfect for you.

 About Vision Video: Vision Video is celebrating their fourth decade of bringing you a wide range of Christian and family videos and DVDs. Today they offer more than 3000 titles with abundant selections for all age groups.  Selections include drama, documentary, live events, curriculum, and rare historical footage among many other genres. Their calling is to provide video resources that will allow families and churches to have a historic awareness of how God has worked among his people over the centuries.  The programs offered at VisionVideo.com have won close to 400 film festival awards! 

Strengths: The Vision Video website is well organized, with easy shopping and effective merchandising. Their pricing is very aggressive with frequent sales and promotions on site, which are featured prominently in their creatives.  They’ve been online for 10+ years and continue to work aggressively to improve conversions and sales.   

Getting Started:If you are a member of the United Sharing Network, just pick up a banner or text link from the Vision Video campaign.  If you are not a member of the United Sharing Network, click here to join now.

I’m excited to announce the launch of the official blog of the United Sharing Network.  This is the place where you can come to get all the information you need on the United Sharing Network.  What offers are new?  What offers are expiring?   What offers are performing well?  What special promotions are running?

You’ll find the answers to all those questions here.

Please subscribe to our RSS feed for your convenience and you will always be dialed in to the latest in news and information from the United Sharing Network.

Have a Blessed Day!

The USN Team