Awin Commission Rates by Category: What UK Retailers Really Pay

Key Takeaways

• Awin does not publish an average commission rate, so this guide reads the public programme pages of 35 UK retailers on the network and groups them by category, with a link to each.
• Independent beauty, fashion, jewellery and pet brands publish 7% to 15% for new customers; food and drink 4% to 8%; big multi category retailers such as Boots, Dunelm, Homebase and Currys 1% to 3%.
• Most independent programmes pay a lower rate on returning customers, typically a third to a half of the new customer rate, and 1% to 2% to voucher and cashback partners.
• Awin Access costs £99 plus VAT a month plus a 3.5% tracking fee on each sale, so a 6% commission costs 9.5% of the sale in total; Accelerate is from £199 plus VAT with a 2.5% fee.
• Awin says programmes with two or three commission groups generate almost double the performance of those with one, and the new versus existing customer split is the first group to add.
• We encourage the brands we work with to pay 15% to 20% on first time customers only; for one client, affiliates went from 0% to 38% of revenue in two years and brought in 70% of its first time customers.

Quick Answer

Awin commission rates in the UK run from 1% at the big multi category retailers to 15% or more at independent brands, and the category matters less than the size of the business and the type of partner. Independent beauty, fashion, jewellery and pet brands typically publish 7% to 15% for new customers, with returning customers at a third to a half of that and voucher or cashback partners at 1% to 2%. Awin takes a 3.5% tracking fee on Access or 2.5% on Accelerate on top of whatever you pay, and charges £99 or £199 plus VAT a month. Set your rate from your margin and your cost of a new customer elsewhere, and pay most on first orders.

Table of Contents

• How Awin Commission Works
• What Awin Charges on Top
• Beauty
• Fashion and Jewellery
• Pets, Food and Drink
• Home, Garden, Toys and Crafts
• Electronics and Big Retailers
• The Pattern in the Numbers
• Order Value and Conversion Benchmarks
• How to Set Your Own Rate
• Why Matters Perspective
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final Thoughts
• Related Articles

Every brand joining Awin asks the same first question: what should we pay? Shopify's own affiliate guide says "reliable averages are difficult to establish" (Shopify blog), and the benchmark articles that do exist are American estimates. So we did it the long way, by reading the public commission pages of 35 UK programmes on Awin on 15 October 2026. Each rate below links to the page it came from. Rates change, so treat the tables as a map of the market rather than a price list, and check the page before you copy anyone.

How Awin Commission Works

Awin's help centre describes three commission models: cost per acquisition (CPA), cost per lead and cost per click. Retail programmes use CPA, as a percentage of order value or a fixed amount per sale. Awin says you can "use custom rules to reward new customer acquisition, higher basket values, or specific product categories" and "adjust rates easily based on performance or promotional periods". Its commission flexibility page lists commission by customer acquisition (new or returning), by product, by basket value and, on the Advanced plan, by custom parameters.

The unit that matters is the commission group. Awin's guidance on commission groups says programmes with two or three groups "generate almost double the performance of those with just one", and programmes with four or more generate over three times more. Its own worked example moves a retailer from a single 8% rate to 8% for returning customers, 10% for new customers and 12% for high margin products. Access allows up to three groups including the default; Accelerate and Advanced allow unlimited groups.

What Awin Charges on Top

Commission goes to the publisher. Awin's own fee comes on top, as a percentage of the sale, from its UK advertiser pricing page.

Awin's own example: on a £100 sale with 6% commission, the partner gets £6 and Awin gets £3.50 on Access, so the sale costs £9.50, or 9.5%. The tracking fee is a share of the sale, not of the commission, which is why a low commission still carries a meaningful cost. Our Awin for Shopify guide walks through the set up and the monthly numbers.

Beauty

Beauty is the most generous category among independent brands, and the one where the new versus existing split is most common.

Fashion and Jewellery

Pets, Food and Drink

Home, Garden, Toys and Crafts

Electronics and Big Retailers

Several programmes, including Morphy Richards, Simply Supplements and SharkNinja, publish no rate and say commission is agreed case by case. If a competitor keeps its rate private, it negotiates by partner, which you can do too.

The Pattern in the Numbers

Three things stand out. Size matters more than category: Boots, Dunelm, Homebase, Lakeland and Currys all sit at 1% to 3% whatever they sell, because their brands bring the traffic and their margins are thin, while independent brands in the same categories pay 7% to 15%. Partner type is the second lever: the programmes that publish the most detail pay content sites and creators the most and voucher or cashback sites 1% to 2%. And the new customer split is now normal: of the 35 programmes, 15 publish a separate new customer rate, usually two to three times the returning rate, and one pays nothing on repeat orders at all.

Order Value and Conversion Benchmarks

Network level benchmarks are scarce. The APMA's State of the Affiliate Nation, reported by InPublishing, put UK affiliate spend at £1.8 billion in 2025, up 7.3%, generating £20.7 billion of revenue across 357 million transactions, with retail taking 47% of spend. Divide those figures and the average affiliate order is about £58 and the blended cost of sale, commission and fees together, is about 8.7%; neither figure is published as such, so treat them as derived. Awin's 2018 fashion figures of £65.99 and 4.5% are the only Awin category benchmarks we could find.

How to Set Your Own Rate

1. Start from gross margin. A 15% commission plus a 3.5% fee is 18.5% of the sale, which a 60% margin absorbs and a 30% margin does not.
2. Compare with your other new customer costs. If paid social returns just above 1.5 times spend on new customers, you are paying about 67p per £1 of revenue there; 18.5p per £1 on affiliates, paid only on sales, is cheap.
3. Split new and returning from day one. Awin says the split is available on every plan and is the first group to add. Pay most on first orders and little or nothing on repeat orders.
4. Pay content and creators more than vouchers. Follow the Currys model: 3% for editorial and creators against 1% for codes and cashback, scaled up for an independent brand.
5. Leave room to boost. Awin advises against always paying the top rate, so you can raise it for a campaign or a peak season without breaking the budget.
6. Review quarterly. Rates can be changed; check the new customer share of affiliate orders and move the money to the partners who bring them.

Why Matters Perspective

We are an Awin partner and run programmes for Shopify brands, and the tables above match what we see in practice: the brands that treat affiliates as a new customer channel and pay generously on first orders are the ones that grow the channel. We encourage the brands we work with to pay a generous 15% to 20% on first time customers only. A 15% commission on a £48 first order is £7.20, Awin Access adds £1.68, and the sale costs £8.88 in total, paid only once it has happened.

Done well the channel is not small. Affiliate sales took Dotty Dungarees, a client of ours, from 0% of revenue to 38% over two years, and brought in 70% of its first time customers over the same period. If you want help setting your programme up or reworking your commission groups, our affiliate marketing page explains how we work; our pricing is published and retainers can be ended at any time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a typical Awin commission rate?

There is no network average published, and the public programme pages show a wide range. Large multi category retailers such as Boots, Dunelm, Homebase and Currys publish flat rates of 1% to 3%. Independent brands in beauty, fashion, jewellery and pets publish 7% to 15%, usually with a higher rate for new customers and 1% to 2% for voucher and cashback partners. Food and drink programmes sit between, at 4% to 8% for new customers.

How much does Awin charge on top of commission?

Awin Access costs £99 plus VAT a month after a free first month, with a 3 month minimum term, and takes a 3.5% tracking fee on each affiliate sale. Accelerate is from £199 plus VAT a month with a 2.5% tracking fee. Awin's own example is a £100 sale at 6% commission: the partner gets £6 and Awin gets £3.50 on Access, so the sale costs £9.50 in total.

Should I pay a different commission for new customers?

Yes. Awin says commission by customer acquisition is available on every plan, and that programmes with two or three commission groups generate almost double the performance of those with one. Most of the independent brands in our tables pay a third to a half as much on returning customers as on new ones, and one pays nothing on repeat orders.

What commission should a Shopify brand pay on Awin?

Work back from gross margin and what a new customer costs you through paid search and social, then remember Awin's tracking fee sits on top. We encourage the brands we work with to pay a generous 15% to 20% on first time customers only, because affiliates are the one channel where you pay only when a sale happens.

Why do voucher and cashback sites get a lower rate?

Because they often collect on customers who were already at the checkout and went looking for a code. Many programmes publish a 1% to 2% rate for voucher, cashback and discount code partners and a higher rate for content sites and creators, which is what Currys moved to in August 2025.

Does Awin publish benchmarks for average order value and conversion?

Rarely. Awin's fashion article from 2018 reported an average order value of £65.99 and a 4.5% conversion rate for the average UK fashion programme. For the whole UK affiliate market, the APMA reported £1.8 billion of spend, £20.7 billion of revenue and 357 million transactions in 2025, which works out at about £58 an order and an 8.7% blended cost of sale.

Can I change my Awin commission rate later?

Yes. Awin's help centre says rates can be adjusted based on performance or promotional periods, and that you can set rules by product, basket value and customer type. Awin Access allows up to three commission groups; Accelerate and Advanced allow unlimited groups and custom rules.

Final Thoughts

There is no single Awin commission rate. There is a market, and the public pages show it: 1% to 3% at the big retailers, 7% to 15% at independent brands, more for new customers and creators, less for vouchers and repeat orders. Set yours from your margin and your cost of a new customer elsewhere, and build the groups that Awin says double performance.

We will update the tables when programmes change their rates. If your programme is missing and your rate is public, email us and we will add it with a link.

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