Affiliate Marketing Growth, Global Expansion and Publisher Strategy: Alona Malinovska on Scaling Ecommerce with Webgains

How can ecommerce brands use affiliate marketing to enter new markets, reach valuable customers and build scalable revenue without committing huge budgets upfront?Alona Malinovska, Managing Director of Webgains UK, joins Marketing Over Milkshakes to explain how affiliate networks connect advertisers with publishers and why human expertise remains essential as affiliate technology and artificial intelligence develop. Drawing on 13 years in performance marketing, Alona discusses affiliate programme management, publisher recruitment, customer acquisition, conversion strategy and the service first model behind Webgains.The conversation explores the publisher types attracting serious attention, including CSS affiliates, closed communities, cashback platforms, loyalty programmes and influencer partnerships. Alona also explains how brands can assess incremental affiliate revenue, customer lifetime value, average order value and the influence publishers have across the ecommerce sales funnel.Alona shares practical insights from Webgains’ international growth across China, Germany, Eastern Europe and Latin America. She reveals how one carefully planned trip to China helped Webgains secure more than 20 new clients, why Chinese ecommerce brands need local European marketing expertise and how affiliate marketing allows businesses to test international expansion with controlled costs. In this episode we talked about:How affiliate networks connect ecommerce brands with publishersHow Webgains supports more than 1,800 brands and 250,000 publishers across 150 countriesWhy affiliate marketing operates as a commercial model rather than one fixed marketing channelHow brands can tailor affiliate programmes around growth, cost control, customer acquisition and brand protectionThe rise of CSS affiliates and their value for growing ecommerce businessesHow closed communities, newsletters, apps and private social groups are changing influencer marketingWhy artificial intelligence should amplify affiliate managers and human expertiseLeadership, mentorship, imposter syndrome and building support systems for employees Key Moments:0:00: Why Chinese ecommerce brands are actively seeking European affiliate partners02:39: Alona Malinovska’s journey through paid search and performance marketing07:02: How Webgains connects 1,800 brands with more than 250,000 publishers10:14: Why affiliate marketing can be difficult to explain14:03: The responsibilities of a Managing Director at an international affiliate network17:31: Supporting employee wellbeing and company culture during remote working19:21: Returning to Webgains and stepping into senior leadership23:09: Mentorship, reverse mentorship and learning from younger employees28:00: Recruiting ambitious and curious people for a changing industry32:43: How closed communities are reshaping affiliate and influencer marketing38:00: Understanding incremental affiliate sales through real customer behaviour41:18: How publisher authority influences every stage of the customer journey45:16: Why consumers may show greater loyalty to publishers than individual retailers50:28: The ideal brands for Webgains and international affiliate expansion52:15: Helping Chinese ecommerce brands enter the UK and European markets57:11: How Webgains tested an in person event strategy in Shenzhen1:03:01: The pace, ambition and business culture Alona experienced in China1:09:15: Moving Chinese ecommerce revenue from Amazon to direct consumer websites1:14:27: Testing new markets through performance based affiliate partnerships1:20:54: Why brands still need specialist affiliate marketing expertise1:21:53: The damaging assumptions brands make about discounts and cashback1:25:32: Smartphone addiction, screen time and digital wellbeing1:31:00: The growth opportunity brands can unlock through experimentation