The Random House Group Signs Webgains as Affiliate Network

The Random House Group, one of the largest general book publishing companies in the UK, has signed an agreement with international affiliate network Webgains to represent its affiliate marketing program within the UK.   

The affiliate program will be for rBooks.co.uk (www.rbooks.co.uk), the official book shop for The Random House Group. It sells over 12,000 titles and provides exclusive author information, special offers and the newly released book-browsing widget. Webgains will be promoting opportunities for other sites to host click through banners to the rbooks website.
Joy Judge, e- commerce manager for The Random House Group, said the rationale for running an affiliate program for the first time was to expand brand awareness of the rbooks website and to tap into another area of online marketing.

She said: “The affiliate network is a great way to encourage authors and web users to link to the rbooks website.  We chose Webgains to ensure we worked with a partner who was attentive, valued by affiliates and had innovative yet user-friendly technology.”

Robert Glasgow, Managing Director of Webgains is confident of The Random House Group’s future affiliate marketing success. He said: “If you look at online buying research you will find that books top the list of consumer purchases.  Given the wide breadth of books and the calibre of rBooks.co.uk authors, this program will do well.  Book publishers are often the most creative practitioners of online retailing, creating strong user-generated content and widgets. The Random House Group has tackled the challenge of a new route to market with innovation and professionalism.”

Webgains UK represents around 250 merchants, such as Cadbury’s Gifts Direct, Hawkins Bazaar, Tesco eDiets, Viking Direct, Matches Fashion and Maplin. The company is currently expanding its international reach having opened offices in Spain and the US in the last 3 months.  The UK office has an exceptional reputation in the marketplace having been nominated in multiple categories for the a4uAwards (www.a4uawards.com) 2008, including Best Use of Creative, Best Network Innovation, Publishers Choice of Account Manager and Publishers Choice of Network. 

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About Webgains

Founded in 2005, Webgains is one of the leading European affiliate marketing networks, providing a highly effective combination of user-friendly technology together with world-class client account management. With fully-localised platforms in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Ireland and now the USA, Webgains is the fastest growing affiliate network, facilitating trans-national transactions for the benefit of both affiliates and merchants. Webgains is part of ad pepper media International N.V, the global online marketing specialist.

The Random House Group

The Random House Group is one of the largest general book publishing companies in the UK. The Group is based in London and has subsidiary companies in Australia, New Zealand and India, with a joint venture in South Africa called Random House Struik. The Group comprises six publishing companies with over 40 diverse and highly respected imprints and brand-name publishers including BBC Books, Jonathan Cape, William Heinemann, Chatto & Windus, Vintage, Corgi, Doubleday, Bantam Press and Virgin Books. Novelists published by the Group include Dan Brown, Jilly Cooper, John Grisham, Robert Harris, Mark Haddon, Ian McEwan, Andy McNab, Chris Ryan, Terry Pratchett and Ruth Rendell.Random House’s non-fiction publishing consists of broad general non-fiction and specialist categories such as cookery, gardening, travel and business books.  Notable authors of non-fiction include, Bill Bryson, Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith. The Group’s classic backlist of over 6000 titles includes the works of Graham Greene, Iris Murdoch and Virginia Woolf amongst others.  Random House Children’s Books publishes many bestselling writers including Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson, the former Children’s Laureate.  The Random House Group distribution business services its own imprints as well as 60 other UK publishers.

For further information contact:

Sheema Gulab, International Marketing Director
Tel: +44 (0)207 269 1228
Email: sheema@webgains.com