Do UK affiliate programme results differ between London and Scotland?

What to take away

• UK affiliate programme performance by region is not one market: London and Scotland differ in publisher mix, basket size and validation risk.
• London skews to comparison, voucher and content publishers with higher traffic but thinner margins.
• Scotland skews to cashback, loyalty and local content, with steadier conversion and lower return rates.
• ONS retail sales data shows online's share of retail has settled rather than kept climbing, so incremental growth now comes from publisher quality, not channel shift.
• Budget by region on contribution after commission, not on gross sales.
• Ask networks for regional breakdowns before renewing, because national averages hide both markets.

What ONS data says about retail and online sales in London and Scotland

The Office for National Statistics is the starting point for any regional argument, because it publishes retail sales for Great Britain monthly and a longer retail industry series. Neither cuts affiliate revenue, but both frame the demand your publishers are trying to capture.

The January 2024 retail sales bulletin put the online share of retail sales at roughly a quarter of total spending, after the pandemic spike unwound. That matters for programme planning: online is no longer a growth tide lifting every publisher, so regional differences in who converts start to dominate results.

A year later, the January 2025 retail sales bulletin showed retail sales volumes recovering modestly, with online categories holding share rather than surging. For programme teams, that means flat traffic and rising competition for the same clicks, which pushes commission negotiation to the centre of planning.

The ONS retail industry data collects the longer series on online retail trends, including the split between food and non-food.

Non-food is where most affiliate activity sits, and it is the more volatile half, which is why a Scottish cashback publisher and a London comparison site can report very different months from the same national data.

ONS digital economy statistics then set the wider scope: how many UK businesses sell online, how much they invest in digital, and how large the digital sector is. That is the pool affiliate marketing recruits from, and it is concentrated in London and the South East, which shapes where networks and agencies sit.

Read together, the ONS picture is one of a mature online market with regional variation in who buys and how. Regional affiliate network reports fill in the publisher side, and the two should always be read side by side.

Publisher mix and network representation in London versus Scotland

London hosts the headquarters of most UK affiliate networks, agencies and comparison publishers. That concentration is not just administrative. It shapes which publisher types are easiest to recruit, because account teams, events and policy work cluster there.

A typical London-heavy programme sees price comparison sites, voucher code publishers, editorial content sites and a long tail of niche blogs. Competition for placements is fierce, and the same publisher may run several competing merchants in one category.

Scotland's publisher base looks different. Cashback and loyalty sites have deep member bases, regional media and lifestyle publishers carry trusted local audiences, and a smaller number of specialist content sites cover Scottish retail, travel and finance.

Representation in networks follows the same pattern. London publishers are over-represented in premium networks and agency-managed programmes; Scottish publishers are more likely to appear through cashback networks, voucher networks and direct deals.

That imbalance has a practical cost. If your recruitment plan is built from network dashboards alone, you will over-sample London and under-count Scottish publishers that never appear in the same reports.

One correction is to ask networks for publisher counts by region, not just by type. Another is to recruit directly in Scotland through regional media and loyalty partners, where competition is lower and terms are often easier to agree.

Programme teams weighing where to spend recruitment effort should treat affiliate marketing demand signals as a regional question, not a national one.

Why the London skew persists

Network account management, industry events and policy activity all sit in London, so publishers there get more face time. Scottish publishers often work through self-serve platforms and email, which suits cashback and loyalty models but disadvantages content sites seeking bespoke deals.

Consumer behaviour differences that shift conversion and basket size

Scottish consumers behave differently from London consumers in ways that show up in affiliate data. Average order values tend to be lower outside London, partly because of income differences and partly because of basket composition.

Cashback and loyalty members in Scotland often convert at higher rates than cold traffic, because they arrive with intent and a membership habit. That lifts conversion rate while pulling average order value down.

London traffic is more comparison-driven. Shoppers check several sites before buying, which inflates click volume and depresses conversion rate per click, but produces larger baskets when the purchase is a considered one.

Seasonality differs too. Scottish retail calendars follow different holiday patterns, and weather-driven categories such as outdoor, home heating and travel peak at different times from London.

Delivery expectations matter. Remote and rural Scottish postcodes can face longer delivery windows and higher shipping thresholds, which suppresses some low-value baskets and pushes shoppers toward merchants with clear free delivery terms.

Returns behaviour is a quieter factor. London shoppers return more fashion and home items, so programmes heavy in those categories see higher reversal rates from London traffic even when gross sales look stronger.

The practical implication is that a single national commission rate treats two different economics as one. Segment reporting by region before you renegotiate terms.

Programme economics: commission rates, AOV and validation in each market

Programme economics come down to four numbers: average order value, commission rate, conversion rate and validation rate. Each behaves differently in London and Scotland.

The table below sets out the typical pattern programme teams report when they split data by region. Treat it as a planning frame, not a benchmark, because category mix moves every figure.

Metric	London pattern	Scotland pattern
Average order value	Higher, driven by considered purchases	Lower, driven by smaller frequent baskets
Commission rate	Under pressure from comparison and voucher publishers	Often negotiated lower but more stable
Conversion rate	Lower per click, higher per session value	Higher, especially from cashback and loyalty
Validation rate	Lower in fashion and home	Higher, with fewer returns
Publisher type	Comparison, voucher, editorial	Cashback, loyalty, regional media

Average order value is the first lever. A programme with a strong London comparison presence will report a higher blended AOV, which flatters commission cost per sale even when margin is thinner.

Commission rates follow publisher type more than geography. Voucher and comparison publishers in London command higher rates because they sit closest to the point of sale; cashback publishers in Scotland often accept lower rates in exchange for volume and loyalty.

Validation is where regional differences bite hardest. Returns, cancelled orders and payment failures reduce confirmed commission, and London's higher return rates in fashion and home mean a higher headline commission can pay out less than a lower Scottish rate.

A worked example makes the point. Take two publishers each generating £100,000 in gross sales. The London publisher runs at a 10 per cent commission with an 80 per cent validation rate, so confirmed commission is £8,000.

The Scottish publisher runs at 7 per cent with a 95 per cent validation rate, so confirmed commission is £6,650.

The London publisher still costs more, but the gap is smaller than the headline rates suggest. Add return handling and customer service costs and the two can converge.

This is why affiliate marketing key metrics should be read after validation, not before. Gross sales and headline commission rates are the least reliable numbers in a regional comparison.

A checklist for regional economics

• Split gross sales, AOV and conversion by region
• Apply validation rates before comparing commission cost
• Separate cashback and loyalty from comparison traffic
• Check return rates by category and region
• Recalculate contribution after returns and payment costs
• Renegotiate rates only on validated, incremental sales

Named network reports on regional affiliate performance

Network reporting is the second half of the evidence base, after ONS. Most large UK networks publish annual or quarterly performance material covering publisher types, category trends and, increasingly, regional splits.

These reports vary in method. Some survey publishers, some aggregate platform data, and some combine both. Read the methodology note before quoting a figure, and check whether regional breakdowns are based on publisher location or consumer location, because the two answer different questions.

When a network report shows regional variation, it usually reflects publisher concentration rather than consumer demand. London's share of publisher accounts is high, so national averages are pulled toward London behaviour unless the report separates the two.

Cashback and loyalty networks tend to publish member and redemption data that gives a clearer Scottish picture, because their membership is distributed across the UK rather than clustered in London.

Comparison and voucher networks publish more London-weighted data, because their publisher base and merchant relationships sit there. Neither source is wrong, but using only one will distort your regional plan.

For programmes deciding where to invest, affiliate marketing benchmark research is only useful when the regional basis is stated. A benchmark without a regional note is a national average pretending to be a target.

How to read a network report

1. Check whether regional data is by publisher location or consumer location.
2. Note the sample size for Scotland, which is often small enough to swing a quarter.
3. Separate cashback and loyalty from comparison and voucher.
4. Compare validation and return rates, not just sales.
5. Ask the network for the underlying regional split before quoting it internally.

What the regional gap means for British programme planning

Planning should start from the recognition that London and Scotland are separate recruitment markets with different economics. A single national rate card will overpay in one and underpay in the other.

Set regional targets for publisher mix, not just revenue. A healthy programme has comparison coverage in London, cashback and loyalty strength in Scotland, and content publishers in both.

Budget recruitment where the marginal publisher is cheapest to acquire. Scottish cashback and regional media partners are often less contested, so the same recruitment spend buys more incremental sales.

Review commission rates by region annually, using validated sales. If a London publisher's headline rate looks generous after returns, the effective rate may already be competitive.

Track consumer-side regional data alongside publisher-side data. ONS retail and digital economy series give the demand backdrop; network reports give the supply side. Neither alone justifies a budget decision.

Compliance work sits mostly in London, through the Advertising Standards Authority and the CAP Code, the Competition and Markets Authority, the FCA for financial promotions, and the ICO under UK GDPR. Scottish publishers face the same rules, but smaller teams often need more support on disclosure and data handling.

Tax treatment is national, not regional. HMRC self-assessment and VAT rules apply the same way to a Glasgow cashback site and a London comparison site, though the practical admin burden falls harder on smaller Scottish publishers.

For programmes reviewing their overall market position, affiliate marketing market size is worth checking before committing budget to either region, because the national figure sets the ceiling and the regional split sets the opportunity.

A short planning sequence

1. Pull twelve months of validated sales split by region.
2. Identify which publisher types drive each region's sales.
3. Compare effective commission after validation and returns.
4. Set separate recruitment targets for London and Scotland.
5. Review quarterly, because Scottish cashback volume can move quickly.

Common questions

Does affiliate performance really differ between London and Scotland? Yes, mainly through publisher mix, basket size and validation rates. London skews to comparison and voucher traffic with higher AOV and more returns; Scotland skews to cashback and loyalty with steadier conversion.

Which ONS data is most useful for affiliate planning? The monthly retail sales bulletin for online share and momentum, the retail industry series for category trends, and digital economy statistics for market scope. None covers affiliate revenue directly.

Why is average order value lower in Scotland? Smaller and more frequent baskets, plus income differences and delivery thresholds that discourage low-value orders to remote postcodes. Cashback members also buy in smaller increments.

Should commission rates differ by region? Rates should differ by publisher type and validated performance, which often correlates with region. Setting one national rate usually overpays London comparison traffic and underpays Scottish loyalty partners.

How reliable are network regional reports? They are useful but uneven. Check whether regional splits reflect publisher location or consumer location, and note the Scottish sample size before quoting any figure.

Where should a programme recruit first? Start where the marginal publisher is cheapest. London offers scale and comparison coverage; Scotland offers less contested cashback, loyalty and regional media partners with stronger validation.