buy.at is an affiliate network that was acquired by Digital Window on March 1, 2010[1][2] having previously been owned by AOL.[3] It is based in the United Kingdom.
In September 2011, the service was relaunched under the Digital Window label and with a new user interface, as Spend and Raise, with all existing links to Buy.at webshops being redirected to the equivalent Spend and Raise eStore. Many new retailers were added at the same time, although technical issues have delayed the transfer to the new system of a few of the original retailers, most notably Amazon.co.uk.[4]
Founded in 1999, Perfiliate Technologies Ltd started the buy.at affiliate network in 2002, which grew to become the UK’s largest independent affiliate marketing network. The company demonstrated strong performance early on, generating an average 250% year over year revenue growth from 2004 to 2006 [5] and was recognized as the UK’s ninth fastest growing technology company in the 2007 Sunday Times TechTrack.[6][7][8] This coincided with buy.at’s recognition as the fastest growing affiliate network in the UK by New Media Age (NMA).[9][10]
In addition to network growth, buy.at received awards and recognition for campaign performance and overall operations including:
Also in 2007, buy.at acquired Lightstate (now buy.at leads) to expand capabilities and product offerings for advertisers and affiliates in the lead generation space.[18] This year also marked buy.at’s beginning in the United States, opening an office in New York and launching Ticketmaster’s US affiliate program in December.[19]
buy.at’s continued growth captured the attention of AOL, who purchased the company in 2008 to operate as a wholly owned business unit of Advertising.com.[20][21] This acquisition marked the official launch of buy.at’s network in the United States.
Coinciding with AOL’s ‘Platform-A’ European expansion, buy.at began supporting clients in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden in 2009.[22] In the same year, buy.at’s Agnieszka Marchewka was highly commended for ‘Publishers Choice of Account Manager’ at the a4uAwards.[23]
In 2010, AOL sold buy.at to Digital Window, which now includes both Affiliate Window and buy.at to form the largest affiliate marketing network in the UK.