Affiliate Marketing Metrics Shift as Consumers Click More, Buy Less

As grocery prices rise and economic anxieties heighten, shoppers are making some interesting adaptations to stay on top of their budgets. According to impact.com’s "2025 Industry Benchmark Report," modern consumers are clicking through more product comparisons, making fewer purchases, and condensing their shopping routines to make less frequent trips with much larger basket sizes.

After tracking the performance of over 2,300 North American retail brands throughout 2025, impact.com found that while overall clicks increased 2% year over year, actual transactions dropped by 5%. Even with 5% fewer trips to the checkout counter, the value of each transaction increased: shoppers packed 2.5 items per order instead of the 2.3 they packed last year, representing a 4% jump in average order value to $123.

“Shoppers aren’t buying less,” the report states. “They’re buying differently.” Total consumer spending fell just 1% despite the 5% dip in transaction volume.

For grocery retailers, the pattern can be explained by emerging customer behaviors. Shoppers are consolidating trips and maximizing each checkout to hit free delivery thresholds or justify the effort of shopping. They are also spending an increasing amount of time in the “product research” phase, perusing online reviews and comparing prices to get the best possible bang for their buck.

This research phase now dominates the customer journey. November saw clicks surge 45% compared to the previous year as shoppers built lists and monitored deals online. Those same shoppers, however, waited until early December to actually buy, compressing their purchases into a narrow window around Cyber Monday.

The report notes that affiliate links now serve two purposes: “research and purchase.” Network partners and content sites accounted for 63% of clicks but only 27% of total transactions, a discrepancy impact.com attributes to their early role in a customer’s decision-making process rather than a failure to convert. 

Coupon sites, recipe blogs and product review platforms drive awareness weeks before shoppers begin building their carts, while loyalty programs capture them at checkout, handling 50% of all transactions while eating a much smaller share of the marketing budget (33%). Influencer partnerships showed particular strength, responsible for 6% of transactions despite only taking up 4% of total brand spending.

Total marketing spend through affiliate channels stayed flat. However, grocers reallocated how they deployed those dollars, raising commission rates for a visibility boost in November as customers stop shopping and start researching in preparation for the holiday season and then maintaining investment through early December to capture conversions. On a month-to-month basis, March and April saw the highest conversion rates, suggesting that, with no major seasonal festivities on the horizon, a larger number of grocery shoppers who click through are ready to buy.

Taken together, these trends suggest affiliate marketing is evolving into a digital hybrid space bridging content, research, and sales to support customers at every stage of the purchasing process. The recipe blogger who drives product clicks in October deserves some credit when a shopper finally buys that product through a store’s loyalty program in November: both partners played essential roles.

The report analyzed nearly 1 billion transactions representing over $116 billion in gross merchandise value across categories including food and drink, health and beauty, and household goods.

Also published in: Progressive Grocer