Understanding merchant campaigns | Kelkoo Group Help Center

With thousands of merchants available to promote in over 30 countries we pride ourselves on providing our publishers with comprehensive options for earning revenue. With such a broad range of merchants working in a number of different ways it's important to be able to identify which campaigns represent your best opportunities for increasing earnings. We recognise this and we've worked to make things simpler.

Static or Flex?

Broadly, we have two main types of merchant campaign, Static and Flex. You can find this information directly via our /feeds/merchants endpoint.

Static

Static merchant campaigns pay out at a fixed amount per category. These types of campaigns currently make up a large proportion of all campaigns. They are simple to understand and easy to start promoting. These merchants will be working to defined monthly budgets - this means that in conjunction with a fixed CPC per category these campaigns may become unavailable if our systems detect volatility with regards to your traffic volume or quality. Their fixed CPCs, however, are stable and dependable. Static merchant campaigns are great place to direct your users.

Flex

Flex merchant campaigns feature dynamic pricing. This means you can be paid a different amount per click depending on the quality of traffic you deliver. Our systems determine the CPC you will earn for a given click based on past performance, meaning that if your quality has improved for a merchant in the last few days, you'll be offered higher CPCs with no theoretical limit. Of course, the opposite is also true, but the earnings potential with Flex campaigns is higher than with Static campaigns.

Merchant Tiers

There are three tiers of merchants with differing characteristics, Static, Flex Standard and Flex Premium.

There's a growing number of Flex Premium campaigns and we expect these to eventually represent a significant proportion of all Kelkoo merchant campaigns. These campaigns are managed directly by our dedicated sales teams and include campaigns with a strong focus on quality. They represent the greatest opportunity for return on investment of all Kelkoo campaigns and are a great place to start if you have history of good performance.

As with other Flex campaigns, you'll be paid based on the quality of traffic you deliver with top publishers earning up to 5x the CPCs of other campaign types. Our smart CPCs are updated daily using machine learning technology which utilises your own performance to set accurate CPCs at high granularity.

You can find merchant tiers in the /feeds/merchants Shopping API endpoint.

Respecting merchant traffic requirements

Forbidden Traffic Types

Many merchant campaigns include restrictions on the types of traffic they will accept. Merchants may forbid certain traffic sources for reasons including brand safety, targeting preferences, compliance requirements, or campaign objectives. Publishers must understand these restrictions and ensure their traffic complies with merchant requirements.

Merchant traffic restrictions are available in two key locations:

The merchant feed endpoint (/api/v2/feeds/merchants) includes the forbiddenTrafficTypes field, listing all traffic types that the merchant does not accept for their campaigns.
The Merchant directory in your Publisher Center account provides merchant-specific information, including traffic type restrictions, accessible to registered publishers.

Publishers should review their traffic classification against the merchant restrictions before promoting products, and verify that their traffic type is not on a merchant's forbidden list. Failure to adhere to merchant traffic restrictions may result in traffic rejection, reduced commissions, account penalties, or campaign termination.

Refer to the Traffic Type Definitions below to understand which category best describes your publisher traffic:

Forbidden Traffic Type	Description
`Affiliate Networks`	Traditional affiliate networks and affiliate programs that connect merchants directly with independent publishers and affiliates who earn commissions on referred sales and customer actions.
`Bing PLA Publishers`	Publishers promoting products through Bing Product Listing Ads (PLA) and Bing Shopping campaigns, displaying merchant products in Bing search results and related placements. Publisher must gain explicit permission from Kelkoo Group to promote using this traffic type on any Kelkoo Group merchant.
`Browser Extension`	Software extensions and plugins installed in web browsers that provide shopping features, price comparisons, coupons, cashback, or promotional offers to end users during their browsing.
`Browser UI`	Shopping features, widgets, toolbars, or UI elements integrated directly into the browser's interface or navigation area eg tiles.
`Buy Now Pay Later`	Financial services and platforms enabling customers to purchase products and defer payment in instalments, including BNPL providers and payment plan services.
`Cashback`	Platforms, programs, and browser tools offering customers monetary rewards, rebates, or cashback credits on purchases made through their referral links or services.
`Classified`	Classified advertising platforms, marketplaces, and listing services where users browse and transact products or services in categorized sections.
`Content`	Content-based websites including blogs, review sites, buyer guides, comparison articles, news outlets, and editorial platforms that reference products and merchant offerings.
`Couponing`	Coupon, discount, and promotional code platforms that aggregate and distribute merchant coupons, promo codes, and deals to consumers seeking discounts and savings on purchases.
`Domain Parking`	Monetized domain parking services, landing pages, and parked domains that display targeted advertising and merchant offers.
`Emailing`	Direct email marketing campaigns, newsletters, promotional emails, and email-based marketing initiatives that promote merchant products and offers to subscriber lists.
`Google PLA Publishers`	Publishers promoting products through Google Product Listing Ads (PLA), Google Shopping, and Google search result placements displaying merchant products. Publisher must gain explicit permission from Kelkoo Group to promote using this traffic type on any Kelkoo Group merchant.
`Influencer Platforms`	Social platforms, communities, and networks used by content creators, influencers, and personalities to promote products to their followers and audiences.
`Media Buyers`	Professional media buying agencies, programmatic platforms, and buying services that purchase advertising inventory and manage campaigns across multiple channels and publishers.
`Native Platforms`	Advertising platforms and networks that deliver merchant promotions as native ads seamlessly integrated into editorial and platform content.
`Price Comparison Website`	Dedicated price comparison websites, shopping engines, and product comparison platforms where users compare prices, features, and offers across multiple merchants.
`Retail Media`	Advertising networks owned and operated by retailers, selling advertising inventory to merchants and promoting both retailer and partner merchant products.
`Retargeting`	Platforms, networks, and services that display targeted ads to users who have previously visited a merchant's website, viewed products, or shown purchase intent.
`Search Engine`	Traffic generated through paid search advertising campaigns, organic search results, and search engine marketing on general search engines.
`Social Media`	Organic and paid promotions, posts, and advertisements shared on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, and similar networks.
`Subnetworks`	Reseller networks, agency networks, and partner channels that operate as intermediaries within affiliate ecosystems, managing groups of publishers or resellers on behalf of primary networks or merchants.

Restricted domains

Merchants will sometimes specify domains which they do not want to be promoted on. These are available at the following endpoint: /api/v2/feeds/merchants/restrictions

As a publisher you are responsible for adhering to any of these restrictions. It is recommended that you review this prior to any promotion taking place.