Service Update: Rakuten PopShops to Retire, June 2018 

Rakuten Marketing PopShops, a network agnostic product feed and coupon aggregator service for Publishers, will retire on Friday, June 29, 2018.

This does not affect Rakuten Marketing Affiliate Network publisher tools like Merchandiser, Curate, Curator for Curate, or Automate. Rakuten Marketing will continue to be dedicated to our Publisher partners through Rakuten Marketing Affiliate Network publisher tools, product APIs, Coupon Web Services, global networking events and more.

Your business success is our priority so please view the FAQs below, and if you still have questions, you can learn more by contacting support@popshops.com.

What Does the Close of Rakuten PopShops Mean for Advertisers?

Advertisers do not need to proactively take any action. If they have an active product feed available for their program, that feed will continue to be available to their approved publishers.

Advertisers may receive an increase in new inquiries from publishers regarding access to the advertiser’s product feed, individual product links, or coupon/deal text links.

What Does the Close of Rakuten PopShops Mean for Publishers?

After June 29, 2018, the publishers who were using Rakuten PopShops to work with multiple affiliate networks will need to work directly with each network to access their approved advertisers’ product and deals data. Rakuten Marketing Affiliate Network publishers can accomplish this by contacting our publisher support team:

• Email: uspubsupport@rakuten.com or call us: toll-free: +1-888-880-8430 or call: +1-646-943-8200 and select option 7.

Are there Alternative Cross-Network Aggregator Services that I Can Use?

For general products and coupons/deals, publishers can work directly with their networks’ product APIs.

Alternatively, publishers can work with one of the following companies specialising in feed aggregation across networks.

• ShopStyle Collective: a network of elite publishers and influencers that give publishers the tools, data, opportunities, and guidance they need to grow their brand, their community, and extend the reach of their voice across all their platforms. https://www.shopstylecollective.com/landing
• FMTC: specialises in aggregating affiliate content and making it available to affiliates and bloggers through a series of services and tools. https://www.fmtc.co/
• Coupilia: a robust coupon aggregation solution, at an affordable price, for Publishers of all sizes.https://www.coupilia.com/

Why is Rakuten PopShops Closing?

The decision to sunset its cross-network services was not made lightly, as our service was developed in 2006 to provide our publisher partners with a business technology solution that would provide hundreds of thousands of products and deals through a single API source. While it will no longer be a cross-network resource, the backend technology will still fuel that vision for Rakuten Marketing Affiliate Network publishers, and we can make more meaningful investments in the technology as an in-house engine powering Rakuten Marketing Affiliate Network merchandiser feeds.

Please visit http://popshops.com/support/rpsretirement to view important dates & deadlines and if you have any additional questions, please contact support@popshops.com.