Here’s Our Honest Review of the Target Affiliate Program

Helpful Summary

• Overview: We provide a comprehensive review of the Target Affiliate Program. We discuss everything from how the program works to which products you can promote.

• Why Listen to Us: With over 214 affiliate networks on our platform, including Target Partners, we know exactly what makes for a good affiliate program. Our insights will fuel this review.

• Why It Matters: Given Target's strong market presence and brand recognition, Target’s affiliate program is a great money-making opportunity. The variety in commissionable product categories allows for multiple income streams.

• Action Points: We recommend joining the Target Affiliate Program and using their marketing materials to promote products on your platforms. You may also use our tools to optimize and track your efforts for maximum earnings.

• Further Research: To complement your understanding and readiness for joining the Target Affiliate Program, explore additional affiliate marketing strategies and tools on our website.

At first glance, joining the Target affiliate program seems like a no-brainer. After all, Target is one of the top 10 retail brands in the US in terms of sales. It can be easy to gain traction when their products are already so popular.

Does that mean it’s automatically the right program for you? It depends.

Although traction plays a key role, that’s not the only thing you should consider before choosing a program.

In this Strackr review, we'll tell you everything you need to know about the Target affiliate program. By the end, you'll have all the information you need to make a well-informed decision.

Why Listen to Us?

At Strackr, we know the ins and outs of affiliate marketing like nobody else. This won’t just be another surface-level review; we're a complete affiliate management platform designed with publishers in mind.

With our platform, you can access over 214 affiliate networks and 560,000 programs, including Target Partners. With so much history working with affiliate programs, we’ll cover all the features that are important to affiliates, including products, commission structure, payouts, and more.

What is the Target Affiliate Program?

The Target Affiliate Program, also known as Target Partners, is a program that allows creators to earn commissions by promoting Target products to their audience.

Source: Target

Since Target is an established retailer, promoting its products is pretty straightforward. You don't have to spend much time convincing your audience to try Target. That’s because the company has already built a strong reputation in the first place. Your conversion rates will start from a higher point.

How does the Target Affiliate Program work?

Start by joining the program for free through the Target Partners sign-up page. Once approved, you'll gain access to your unique affiliate link and marketing materials for Target products.

You may then proceed to share these links on your website, blog posts, social media, or anywhere else you think your audience would be interested. Here’s an example from Instagram.

Source: Instagram

When someone clicks on your unique affiliate link and makes a purchase at Target within seven days, you earn a commission on that sale.

What's great is that the purchase doesn't have to be the specific product you're promoting. As long as they clicked your link within the previous 7 days, you'll earn a commission on any products they buy within that time frame.

Moving on, Target doesn't have strict requirements for who can join their program. Whether you're a website owner, social media influencer, or blogger, you're good to go.

The only catch is that your audience must primarily be based in the United States since that's Target's target market. Thankfully, you don't necessarily need to be from the US yourself to do that.

What products can you promote?

Not all products on Target earn you a commission. Many popular categories don't. It's important to know this so you don't waste your efforts on unproductive products.

Here are some of the categories where you can make money on Target:

• Home and outdoor living

• Health and beauty

• Apparel and accessories

• Baby bears and furniture

You can check their contract terms for more details.

Now, these are some of the affiliate niches where you won't earn any commission:

• Household commodities

• Books and magazines

• Pet care

• Video games

• Digital entertainment

Source: Target

So, if you specialize in household commodities, for example, Target might not be the best option for you. Other 0% commission examples for Target include digital products, candy, and pharmacy items.

Even for products that include a commission, there are still some weak points. Target only offers a 1% affiliate commission across the board for health & beauty products. On the other hand, commissions for home & outdoor living items range between 5 and 8%.

Here’s the good part: you can promote as many supported product categories as you want on Target to maximize your earnings.

When it comes to choosing which products to promote, Strackr is your best bet.

With Strackr, you'll get accurate insights into how your product categories perform. You can sort them based on criteria like revenue generated from each category, giving you a better understanding of which products resonate the most with your audience. Then, you can tailor your efforts for better results.

For example, you can see that mobile operator products seem to generate more revenue for this publisher:

Target Partners commission structure breakdown.

Now that you know which products will help you rake in the cash, let's talk about how much.

Target claims you can earn up to 8% commission on each product sold, but it's not that simple. Truthfully, you’ll most likely make significantly less than that when you're just starting.

Here's a clearer overview of how the commission structure works. As you can see, it varies by product category.

Source: Target

Let's take home and outdoor living as an example. Starters typically begin at a 5% commission. But as you increase your tier level, your potential commission goes up as well.

Your tier level, in this case, depends on the number of conversions you get in a month. For example, if 11 people buy a product through your link, that's 11 conversions. This qualifies you for the first tier, earning 6% on those product sales. Similarly, that can go up to 8% for 10,000 conversions.

You might not think the percentage difference matters much now, but let's say the product you want to promote sells for $20 and you sell 20,000 units. And what does a 2% difference mean in this case? A massive $8,000 gain. So, it's all about being strategic about where you put in your effort.

How does the Target Affiliate Payout Work? 

First off, you don't need to reach a specific amount to qualify for payouts, and you can request eligible payouts whenever you want. But Target's payout process isn't so straightforward.

After a customer clicks your affiliate link and makes a purchase, Target tracks the sale for two months. During this time, it verifies the sale and ensures it's not fraudulent.

Once the two months are up, the commission for that sale is "locked in" and therefore finalized. Twenty days after the end of the month the commission is finalized and Target issues the payout.

It might seem a bit confusing, so let's use an example. If you refer a customer on September 29th, the sale won't be locked in until the end of November (two months later). Then, you'd receive your payout around twenty days after that, sometime in December. That’s a long time, but not uncommon in the world of affiliate marketing.

The upsides and downsides of joining the Target Affiliate Program 

Upsides

1. Longer cookie duration: Unlike competitors such as Amazon with a 24-hour cookie, Target's cookies last for 7 days, giving you more time to earn commissions. Mind you, this might still seem small compared to affiliate programs like Etsy’s, which offers 30 days.
2. Affiliate creative assets: Target provides over 150 ready-made banners and other creative assets, saving you time and effort.
3. Recognizable brand: Target is a well-established retail giant with a strong market presence. This recognition is a good thing because customers are more likely to buy from a brand that they know and trust, ultimately boosting your conversion rates.
4. Rewards big sales volume: The program rewards high sales volume, giving you the potential for higher earnings.
5. Commission on other purchases: Even if someone clicks your link but buys a different product, you still earn a commission on their purchase.

Downsides

1. 0% commission on some categories: Target doesn't offer commissions on certain product categories, which can limit your earnings potential.
2. Popularity can be a drawback. With over 1500 stores, some shoppers may choose to visit a physical store instead of purchasing through your affiliate link.
3. Limited to the US: Target's affiliate program is limited to US viewers, which may restrict your opportunities if you have an international audience

In addition to Target, it's perfectly normal to promote products from other affiliate programs to maximize your earnings. However, managing multiple programs can be challenging since you’ll often have to log into different networks.

Lucky for you, Strackr can help by centralizing your affiliate program management into a single simple dashboard. Here, you can gain quick insights into all your programs and keep track of the results you’re getting from them. See, for example:

You can also segment programs based on different criteria, including their performance. This allows you to focus your efforts on optimizing the most successful advertisers while reducing efforts on those that bring in fewer conversions.

Conclusion

The Target affiliate program offers a fantastic opportunity for affiliates with a US-based audience. It has a good reputation and a rewarding commission structure. However, it might not be the most suitable for you depending on what types of products you can sell and the size of your audience.

When you're ready to join the Target affiliate program, having a reliable affiliate marketing tool like Strackr can make your life easier. With Strackr, you can monitor all the products and programs you're promoting on one easy-to-use dashboard. Check out our free trial and test all our features today!