Fourth quarter can be a stressful and hectic time for everyone. To lessen some of that burden, we have put together this special edition of the LinkShare Affiliate Newsletter to highlight some important dates, suggest popular holiday merchants, and highlight merchant promotions.

If you need more help planning your holiday strategy, LinkShare’s affiliate support and distribution services teams are on-call for you this Q4. Simply, fill out the Holiday Help form in the Affiliate Resource Center, and the LinkShare team will help you with the following:

Suggest hot holiday products for you to promote.
Advise you on the types of links you should post.
Recommend LinkShare merchants that will enhance your site.
Or help you find the right gift for your mom!
We hope you will find the information in this newsletter useful. For more information, visit the Affiliate Resource Center, and select Holiday ’06 for tips for making this your most successful Q4!

Important Dates

November 24 “Black Friday” – The day after Thanksgiving was traditionally the day that retailers went from being “in the red” (in debt) to being “in the black” (making a profit). Today, Black Friday is known as the official start of the holiday shopping season.

November 27 “Cyber Monday” – The Monday after Thanksgiving is when online traffic and sales increase. Many shoppers are too busy shopping in brick and mortar stores over the Thanksgiving weekend to shop online, or they did not find what they were looking for, so they go to the web from home and work on Monday to find that perfect holiday gift.

December 20 “When It Absolutely, Positively, Needs to Be There” Last Ship Date – For most retailers, this is the absolute last day that they will ship an item to guarantee delivery for Christmas. Keep in mind, most retailers will charge an extra fee for the rush delivery. It is a good idea to check with your merchants to confirm their last ship date. Most merchants list their last ship dates on the Holiday Deal Dispatcher Affiliate Promotions and Holiday Deal Dispatcher Consumer Promotions pages in the Affiliate Resource Center.

December 20-25 Target Last Minute Shoppers Many retailers offer electronic gift cards for last minute shoppers. E-gift cards can be sent directly to the recipient via email and just in time for Christmas. The chart below shows popular last minute gifts. Click here to see the list of LinkShare merchants that commission on gift cards.

December 26 Post-Holiday Sales – You have survived the busy holiday shopping season. Now is the time to take advantage of consumers looking to spend their holiday cash and gift cards on post-holiday sales. View the latest post-holiday promotions on the Affiliate Resource Center Deal Dispatcher page!

The Perfect Gift to Give and Receive

Apparel, electronics, toys, and food are popular products to promote during the holidays. For many consumers, gift cards are the perfect gift to give and receive. According to data published by eMarketer.com, 91% of adults either received or purchased a gift card in 2005.