Hello Style Crew,

I had a very interesting conversation with website owner Andrea Forzieri a few days ago regards Handbag brands. He gave me a revealing overview of what affiliates should be focusing on and my below summary makes essential reading for every affiliate interested in promoting not just our Handbag selection, but all Forzieri products in general… 

There is still a common misconception amongst affiliates that Forzieri is a boutique outlet specializing in designer Handbag brands such as Gucci, Prada and Fendi. This really isn’t Forzieri’s interest or aim as there are many existing e-tailers churning out the same ‘exclusives’ already – Forzieri doesn’t compete in that space. We do carry a limited number of designer brands but they’re really just random 'add ons' to the exclusive selection.

The truth of the matter is, if your site visitors are looking for the commonly available Prada or Gucci, then you may be better of promoting Bluefly or Overstock. 

In actual fact Forzieri’s core business and strength is on emerging designers and all things exclusive, Italian made, that cannot be found elsewhere. Our handbags succeed with those affluent audiences looking for unique styles that can’t be found anywhere else. This ethos is summed up nicely with two tag lines taken from a current Forzieri campaign:

'Your Style Secrets Are Safe with us'
'Shop Italy's Most Coveted Brands Your Friends Will Never Find'

Both of these tag-lines describe the high-end shopper who is also likely to purchase from Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue; her style is unique, and she doesn’t want to be caught with the same handbag as her best friend, mother-in-law or any other random fashionista she meets on the high-street. There’s a great quote from a popular fashion blogger (Manolo) that goes one step further by saying ‘Forzieri is becoming the smart alternative to big guys like Saks or Neimans'

 So when promoting Forzieri keep this in mind - you / we have no competitors when you choose to promote our unique handbags made by emerging designers rather than the mass-produced high-street brands mentioned above. You are offering your visitors a product they will be hard pushed to find any where else… an exclusive.  That is Forzieri’s strength.

Of course you may not know who these exclusive designers are… hang in there and I’ll post a list of these and specific handbags you SHOULD be promoting over the next couple of days. If you want these emailing to you instead, drop me an email with your Linkshare username.

Cheers,

Patrick Goodfellow

Forzieri Partner Manager

patrick  <-at-> forzieri <dot> com