Fly By Night, Or a Legitimate and Ethical Business?

Pharmaceutical merchants offering affiliate programs seem to appear and disappear almost every week. Some fall foul of laws banning the importation of prescription medications into the United States, while others exercise inadequate care in processing prescriptions or in offering online medical consultations. When they disappear, it usually happens very quickly and without warning, and affiliate marketers who may have invested hundreds or even thousands of dollars to produce highly effective websites are virtually guaranteed to go unpaid for their most recent sales.

So why do affiliate marketers even bother trying to navigate the tricky waters of pharmaceutical sales? Why go to the effort of finding that small number of ethical and legitimate merchants who stick around for more than a few months?

For most affiliates, the answer can be summed up in one word: profit.

There are few other areas of affiliate marketing which can offer commission rates in a range of 5% to 30% or more, coupled with average order values in triple digits. (It sure beats making 5% or 10% on a $10 book or a $15 compact disc...) Affiliate marketing is just one small part of an economic juggernaut that makes pharmacy the single most profitable industry in the entire US economy.

Opportunity and Competition

The revenue opportunity in medication sales -- both prescription and non-prescription -- is vast. According to the US NIHCM, spending on retail outpatient prescription drugs rose 18.8% from 1999 to 2000, from $111.1 billion to $131.9 billion, and the average retail price for a prescription in 2000 was $45.27, up 10.5% from $40.96 in 1999. In terms of total healthcare spending, in 2001, the United States spent $1.4 trillion, up 8.7 percent from 2000. (For more details, see the US National Coalition on Healthcare.)

As more consumers, particularly in the United States, turn to online pharmacies either for reasons of convenience or to save money, the opportunity for affiliate marketers in pharmaceutical areas continues to grow at an even faster pace. That is one reason why, by most estimates, the overwhelming majority of sites on the web advertising pharmacy products are actually affiliate sites rather than 'real' licensed pharmacies.

The bottom line for affiliates working in this area is that there is both huge revenue potential and a huge amount of competition that is already well entrenched, some of which has been established for 5 years or more -- since before the turn of the century.

Pharmacy Affiliate Programs We Promote, And Why

AffiliateInsight.com provides information on a small and select group of what we believe to be legitimate online pharmacy businesses. The criteria we evaluate before deciding to promote any program in this area include:

Track Record

Has the merchant been in operation long, and if not, is it backed by people with a good track record in the industry?

Value

Does the merchant offer real value to the customer, either in terms of saving money or in terms of convenience (or both)? How broad is the product selection?

Financial Attractiveness

What commission rates are offered by the merchant? Are their multiple tiers?

Technical Features

What type of tracking does the merchant provide? Does the merchant offer SYOP (set your own price) or other flexibility that will enable you to distinguish your affiliate offering from others?

The programs which 'make the mark' in this area are available from the submenu at the left of the page.

 

Be sure to check our Affiliate Marketing Blog for tips on getting the most from affiliate marketing.