We recently changed the way clicks are being tagged and reported for aStore. This explains the recent drop in clicks Associates using aStores have observed in the Associates Central reports.
Until recently every visit to and click within an aStore was reported as a click in Associates Central. So, if a user visited the first page of your aStore, then visited a product detail page, placed the item into the cart, and proceeded to checkout on Amazon.co.uk your aStore reports would show four total clicks for one order.
All other Associates links are tracked as clicks and tagged only if a user comes via your referrals to the Amazon website. In order to maintain consistency across the different Associates tools we have updated the aStore tracking to follow the same approach.
So, an aStore "click" will now be reported whenever one of your site visitors is referred to Amazon through either adding something to the aStore cart and proceeding to checkout or by visiting Amazon.co.uk via one of the links embedded in the store (such as the "new and used" link, the search link, etc.).
Therefore you can expect a drop in the number of clicks showing up in your reports, but you should also see an increase in the conversion percentage.
We realize this creates a gap in tracking the traffic to and within your aStores, and our aStore team is actively exploring ways to enhance the reporting functionality. We'll keep you posted as things change.
Here are some more details on how aStore tagging is implemented to enable tracking of the two different customer behaviors listed in the Link type reports in Associate Central.
A) Purchase through aStore (Link code = sb2)
When a customer visits your aStore and clicks on the "Proceed to Checkout" button, all items in his/her aStore cart get added to the Amazon.co.uk cart tagged your Associates ID. There are two possibilities here if the customer does not complete the purchase at that time:
1. The customer proceeds to checkout, logs in to Amazon.co.uk and decides not to complete the transaction at that moment. In this case, the items will be saved in the cart for 90 days. If the customer completes the transaction within 90 days, the referring associate will be paid.
2. If the customer proceeds to checkout from the aStore but does not log into Amazon.co.uk, his/her cart will be saved for seven days. If the customer visits Amazon within seven days, he/she will be asked to enter his/her credentials and we will display items added from aStore within the Amazon cart. If the user subsequently logs in, items will be saved for another 90 days and the referring Associate will get credited whenever the transaction is completed.
B) Referral from aStore (Link code = sb1)
If customers visit your aStore and click on any link within the aStore to go to Amazon.co.uk, their session is tagged with your Associates ID. If the customer adds a product to his/her Amazon.co.uk cart within 24 hrs, the referring Associate will be credited when the transaction is completed. This is the same as any other link type. For further details, please refer to the Amazon.co.uk Associates Operating Agreement.
