John Lewis have given notice to all cashback sites that it will be ending it’s relationship with them effective midnight on Sunday 18th May 2008. This is a surprise move and it will be interesting to see whether further retailers will follow this example.

According to the press release “John Lewis has a long tradition of treating all customers equally, regardless of circumstance or shopping channel. The business model of ‘cash back’ sites is at odds with this ethos, as they offer a permanent discount to online customers that is not available to department store customers”.

This statement is effectively true for all retailers, and presumably other’s will now be watching to see if this decision impacts on their online and perhaps even their offline sales where relevant. Given the volume of sales generated by cashback sites, if more retailers follow suit, then this could result in a major shift in sales patterns across affiliate marketing.

The only question mark surrounding this situation is “how many sales do John Lewis get via cashback”?

If it’s substantial, then this could be some much needed good news for content sites, who can now safely promote John Lewis products online without fear of a customer heading off in search of cashback deals!

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