Performance-based "affiliate" advertising. Many Shopify store owners want to use affiliates to promote their products. If that's you, consider the Shopify app "Affitch."
"What kind of app is Affitch? What can it do?"
"Tell me the difference between ASP-based affiliates and in-house affiliates"
"I want to know Affitch's benefits and pricing structure"
Reading this article will resolve questions and needs like the ones above.
Affiliate advertising is an advertising format where ad fees are paid based on the outcome of "a product being sold," and its cost-effectiveness is attracting attention.
Please use this content as a reference when considering an in-house affiliate program using Affitch.
What Is Affitch, Shopify's In-House Affiliate App?
Image source: Affitch｜Shopify App Store
"Affitch" is an app that enables an in-house affiliate program on your Shopify store. Before introducing Affitch, let's first explain "affiliate advertising."
What Is Affiliate Advertising? The Difference Between Going Through an ASP and an In-House Program
Affiliate advertising is an advertising mechanism in which you have other people introduce your products or services on websites or social media, and you pay a reward when a sale results from that introduction. The person making the introduction is called an affiliate, and affiliates are typically bloggers or influencers.
Affiliate advertising is a performance-based advertising method, characterized by the fact that no cost is incurred until a sale actually occurs. It's effective for raising broad awareness of your products and acquiring new customers.
When running this kind of affiliate program, there are two approaches: going through an ASP (Affiliate Service Provider) or running it in-house.
An ASP is an intermediary that connects advertisers and affiliates. While it lets you reach a large number of affiliates, it comes with setup fees, monthly usage fees, commissions, and so on. Well-known ASPs include A8.net and AccessTrade.
An in-house affiliate program provides your own affiliate program directly to affiliates without going through an ASP. While costs are lower, the effort of building the program and recruiting affiliates tends to be a challenge.
Which approach is right for you depends on factors such as your own resources and the recognition of your products.
The blog article below introduces the benefits and drawbacks of running affiliates on Shopify, along with recommended apps. Please use it as a reference.
Features of Affitch
Affitch is a Shopify-dedicated app that lets store operators easily build and run their own dedicated affiliate system. No programming knowledge is required, and you can start using it right after installation with simple setup.
A free plan is also available, so you can start your own affiliate program with no upfront investment. It's tailored for Japanese Shopify store operators, with robust Japanese-language support.
A Note on Affitch｜You Need to Recruit Affiliates Yourself
Since Affitch is a service for building an in-house affiliate program, it doesn't come with a network of affiliates like an ASP does, and you need to recruit affiliates yourself. It's entirely possible that "you've started your in-house affiliate program, but affiliates aren't signing up."
Please note that you'll need to promote your affiliate program through your own site, social media, newsletters, and so on to recruit affiliates.
Key Features and Capabilities of Affitch
Here are Affitch's main features.
Affiliate Management
With Affitch, you can easily invite and manage affiliates who introduce your shop's products. The invitation method is simple: just share the link generated by Affitch with anyone who wants to become an affiliate. Even on the free plan, you can register up to 5 affiliates.
In the admin screen, you can also analyze referral performance for each affiliate. By inviting fans of your own products or customers who actually use them to become affiliates, you can achieve highly credible promotion.
Conversion Tracking
It automatically tracks payments (conversions) made within the set validity period after a visitor arrives at your store via a referral link issued by an affiliate. By default, a 30-day cookie period is set, but paid plans allow customization from 1 to 365 days.
With the Pro plan or higher, you can also use features to track conversions using coupon codes and to track ongoing orders of subscription products as affiliate performance. This lets you accurately understand each affiliate's contribution.
Reward Payment Management
Reward payment management to affiliates can also be centrally managed with Affitch. It automatically calculates the amount by multiplying the order amount by the reward rate, and can handle everything from confirming payment requests from affiliates to processing payments.
With paid plans, you can also set individual reward rates for each affiliate. This allows flexible operation, such as setting higher rewards for influential affiliates.
Affiliate Information Page
Affitch provides a dedicated admin screen for affiliates. On this page, affiliates can check their own performance data (clicks, conversions, reward amounts, etc.) in real time, which helps maintain motivation and drive improvement activities.
In addition, affiliates can easily check their own referral links and request rewards from this screen. By creating an environment that's easy for affiliates to work in, you can encourage more active product promotion.
Analytics Tools
Affitch comes with tools for analyzing the performance of your affiliate program. It offers conversion reporting features and CSV data export, allowing you to see in detail which affiliates are contributing to how much revenue.
By leveraging this data, you can optimize your program, such as developing effective affiliate strategies and reviewing your reward plans.
Benefits of Adopting an In-House Affiliate Program on Shopify with Affitch
Here are the benefits of adopting an in-house affiliate program on your Shopify store with Affitch.
Increased Awareness and Sales
Affiliate marketing using Affitch lets you reach new customer segments through various promoters, such as bloggers and influencers. By inviting customers who actually use your products as affiliates, you can achieve highly credible promotion.
By leveraging the influence of promoters, you can reach segments you couldn't reach before, and can expect increased sales. Customers coming through influencers also tend to have a higher purchase intent than usual.
Reduced Fee Costs
With a typical ASP, in addition to setup and monthly fees, a commission is also charged for each sale. With Affitch, a free plan is available, letting you start affiliate advertising with no upfront investment. Even on paid plans, since it's a flat-rate pricing model, no commissions are charged as sales increase. With a simple structure where performance rewards are paid only to affiliates, you can expect improved profitability.
For reference, if you advertise using another ASP service, you can expect roughly 50,000 yen in setup fees, roughly 50,000 yen in monthly fees, and roughly 30% in sales commissions.
Note: Pricing structures vary by ASP.
Streamlined Management Work
Running an in-house affiliate program without Affitch means that management tasks such as affiliate management, conversion tracking, and reward management become a significant burden. With Affitch, everything needed to run an affiliate program — from recruiting affiliates, registration management, and conversion tracking to reward calculation — can be completed entirely within the Shopify admin.
You can also set individual reward rates for each affiliate and automate reward requests. (Both paid-plan only) Flexible reward design tailored to your needs and centralized management of performance data can reduce operational burden while enabling effective program management.
Japanese Support Provides Peace of Mind Even for First-Timers
Many Shopify apps are made overseas, and quite a few don't support Japanese. Since Affitch is provided by a Japanese company, its admin screen and support inquiries are in Japanese, and the usage manual is entirely in Japanese. It also supports Japan-specific requirements such as the invoice system.
Even those with no experience running an in-house affiliate program can get started smoothly.
Shopify App Affitch Pricing Plans
Affitch's pricing plans and supported features are as follows.
| Pricing Plan | Free Plan | Standard Plan | Pro Plan | Premium Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Fee | Free | $19 | $49 | $119 |
| Affiliate Management | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Conversion Management | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Reward Payment Management | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Number of Affiliates | Up to 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Approvable Conversions | 50/month | 100/month | 500/month | Unlimited |
| Individual Reward Settings | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Validity Period Renewal | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Can Limit to First Orders Only | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Changing Payment Due Date Settings | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Affiliate Information Page | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Conversion Notifications | — | 20/month | ◯ | ◯ |
| Adding Order Tags | — | 20/month | ◯ | ◯ |
| Analytics Tools | — | Limited | ◯ | ◯ |
| Data Export | — | — | ◯ | ◯ |
| Automatic Conversion Approval | — | — | ◯ | ◯ |
| Tracking with Coupon Codes | — | — | ◯ | ◯ |
| Ongoing Conversion Tracking | — | — | ◯ | ◯ |
| Automatic Month-End Reward Payment Requests | — | — | ◯ | ◯ |
| API Access | — | — | — | ◯ |
| Email Customization | — | — | — | ◯ |
As of March 2025
With an annual contract, you get 2 months free, making the effective total 10 months' worth of fees.
We recommend starting with the Free or Standard plan when beginning an affiliate program, and upgrading to a higher plan as the number of affiliates or conversions grows, or as you need more detailed program design.
Paid plans come with a 30-day free trial, so if you're curious about the features, it may be worth trying it out.
How to Set Up the Shopify App Affitch and Invite Affiliates
We explain how to set up Affitch, its initial configuration, and how to invite affiliates, with images.
Setting Up Affitch and Initial Configuration
First, install "Affitch" from the Shopify App Store.
Image source: Affitch｜Shopify App Store
An installation confirmation will appear again in your Shopify store, so click "Install."
Image source: Affitch
Once installation is complete, Affitch's admin screen will be displayed. Let's start with the initial setup. Click the "settings page" link at the "update settings" check button on the home screen, or click "Settings" in the tab at the top.
Set the reward rate in the "Affiliate Rewards" section. To change it from the default of 10%, enter a value and click "Save."
That's the initial setup. Upgrading to a paid plan increases the number of configurable settings.
Inviting Affiliates
Next, we explain how to invite affiliates.
Click the "affiliate invitation URL" link at the "invite affiliate users" checkbox on the home screen. "Affiliate users" refers to affiliates.
The affiliate invitation URL section will be displayed. Clicking "Edit" lets you edit the URL, but this setting change is paid-plan only. Click the copy button next to the URL.
Post this link on your site, or distribute it via social media or email, to recruit affiliates.
Next, we'll also introduce the steps for registering as an affiliate from the invitation link. Clicking the invitation link displays the affiliate registration page. Enter your email and password, and click sign up. On the following page, register your bank account information for transfers, and so on.
That's the affiliate registration process. The affiliate-facing page looks like the image below.
Once an affiliate completes registration, you can view them in your store's admin. Clicking the "Affiliates" tab in Affitch's admin screen displays the registered affiliates.
Clicking "Details" for an affiliate shown in the list lets you check that affiliate's referral link click count, conversion count, bank account information, and more.
That's the affiliate invitation process.
Use Affitch to Start an In-House Affiliate Program on Shopify!
This article explained Affitch, an app for building and running an in-house affiliate program on Shopify.
While an in-house affiliate program is a low-cost advertising method, building the program can be challenging. However, by using Affitch, you can easily build an in-house affiliate program. Affitch has no sales commissions and can be started for free, making it recommended for a wide range of businesses, from large stores to small ones.
Please use this content as a reference when considering building an in-house affiliate program.
