Chewy Affiliate Program Review 2024 (Is It Worth It?)

If you’ve got a pet, you’d probably do whatever it takes to make them happy.

You’ll buy them the comfiest bed, the tastiest food, the most luxurious treats…

Because they’re worth it, right?

That’s exactly why you should consider creating a pet niche website.

And if you’ve already got one, you should definitely read on for our Chewy affiliate program review, in which we’ll explain:

• Exactly what Chewy does
• Why the pet niche is so attractive to affiliate marketers
• How the Chewy affiliate program works
• How to make money promoting Chewy products
• The pros and cons of the Chewy affiliate program
• Whether Chewy is a better bet than the Amazon Associates program

About Chewy

Chewy is by far the biggest online retailer of pet-related products in the US, generating nearly nine times the revenues of its nearest ecommerce rival:

It sells pet supplies from 2,000+ brands, including big hitters like Kong, Purina, and Royal Canin, as well as a bunch of own-name products.

It’s no wonder there’s so much choice in the pet niche, with the average American dog owner spending $1,201 a year on their canine companion(s), while cat owners shell out an average of $687 per household.

This obsession with pets certainly isn’t limited to the American market; across the world, pet lovers are prepared to spend vast sums on their animal friends.

So much so that the global pet food industry is estimated to be worth $139.29 billion by 2030.

Of course, that’s only one part of the pet products niche.

The pet toys market is expected to hit $3.7 billion by 2027, while pet accessories — from flea collars and dog beds to pet finders and automatic litter boxes — are set to reach a combined value of more than $42 billion by 2026.

All of which means Chewy is making a ton of money online and offline from pet owners, to about $9 billion in 2021.

And you can grab a piece of the action by signing up for the Chewy affiliate program.

What Chewy Products Can You Promote

Chewy sells a giddying array of pet products.

The pet website covers pretty much every type of pet you can imagine — dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, hamsters, rabbits, sundry other small pets, and even horses and farm animals.

Its product categories include food, treats, toys, feeders, furniture, pharmaceuticals, and various other pet-related products and services.

Basically, if you can imagine a pet product, chances are Chewy sells it.

And you can promote all those products as an affiliate marketer.

How Does the Chewy Affiliate Program Work

So you’re interested in becoming a Chewy affiliate?

How to Join the Chewy Affiliate Program

First things first, let’s take a look at the requirements for joining the Chewy affiliate product.

Chewy says it’s “open to partnering with almost all partner models and mediums”.

However, as a minimum, you’ll need to have your own pet-relevant website, and Chewy warns it will reject any site that doesn’t meet its quality and content standards.

So as long as you have a quality website, you’re good to get on with the registration process.

Here’s where things get a little more complex than most other affiliate programs, because Chewy’s affiliate program is actually available through two different affiliate network partners: CJ Affiliate and Partnerize.

For some reason, the Chewy website only mentions Partnerize, but at time of writing, the affiliate program is still very much available on CJ Affiliate too:

The networks have slightly different terms, which will likely dictate which of the two affiliate platforms you choose to join (we’ll go into this in more depth later).

To join the Chewy affiliate program, you’ll first need to register for one of those networks.

We give an in-depth explanation of the CJ Affiliate signup process in our review of the affiliate network — bear in mind you need to be aged 18+ to become a member.

However, Partnerize is Chewy’s main affiliate network, so we’d recommend going with them. 

To sign up through Partnerize, start by clicking the link on Chewy’s affiliate landing page:

You’ll be asked to give your email address and choose a username and password…

…provide your country and address…

…and then give some details about your website and the niche in which you operate.

And that’s pretty much it!

Partnerize will send you an email to verify your address; when you receive it, just click the link to complete the registration process.

Once you gain access to the Partnerize affiliate dashboard, you’ll also need to complete your affiliate account profile and provide your bank details so you can get paid.

How to Add Deep Links to Chewy Products

Deep linking is important, because it allows you to link to specific product pages rather than generic category pages.

Which makes it more likely that customers will convert after clicking your affiliate link.

Partnerize makes it easy to create deep links and add product tracking through its Quicklink Chrome extension.

Once installed, log in using your Partnerize details and you’ll see a list of approved campaigns.

Open the Chewy website, either by navigating to it directly or clicking on it in Quicklink.

Then click the Quicklink extension button again to see all the fields required to build a deep link to the page you’re currently viewing.

Having added all the necessary parameters, just click Copy in the tracking link field to copy the generated link.

What Commission Rates Does Chewy Pay

At time of writing, Chewy’s commission rates were a little hard to understand, as it had recently shifted from paying $15 per new customer order to a default 4% commission on both new and existing orders.

To be clear, the 4% rate now applies, but you might still encounter information claiming that the $15 commission is still active. However, Chewy told us it’s in the process of updating its affiliate network pages, and that the correct information will be reflected soon.

What Cookie Duration Does Chewy’s Affiliate Program Offer

Chewy offers a 15-day cookie window, regardless of whether you go with Partnerize or CJ Affiliate.

So whenever you drive qualifying sales via your Chewy affiliate links within 15 days of the first click, you get a commission.

That might not sound too generous, but it stacks up well against a lot of other big-name online retailers.

Which Payment Methods Can Chewy Affiliates Choose

Again, this will depend on which of the two affiliate networks you sign up with:

• CJ Affiliate: Offers monthly payments via check, direct deposit, or Payoneer.
• Partnerize: Pays directly to your bank account or by check every month.

How Does Reporting Work

All your reporting information can be found within the Analytics tab of your affiliate dashboard:

The Performance page will load automatically, with additional reporting pages available from the sub-navigation menu.

From here, you’ll be able to cut and slice the data as you see fit to give you the best understanding of your conversions and commissions:

What Marketing Materials Does Chewy Offer

They offer promotional material such as banners, text links, unique IDs, some videos, guides, and other resources.

Just navigate to the Content section in the Chewy affiliate dashboard to browse all the latest creatives.

How to Earn Money Promoting Chewy

Okay, so we’ve talked you through the practicalities of becoming a Chewy affiliate. 

Now, we’ll discuss a couple ways to earn some extra spending money through the program.

Create a Pet Niche Website

You need a website to become a Chewy affiliate, so why not use that website to make money by promoting Chewy and referring customers? 

If you don’t already have a pet site, there are quite a lot of steps to creating one — too many to go through here. Instead, we’d suggest you check out our guide on pet blogging.

But the general idea is that you create articles targeted at pet lovers and use them to promote Chewy products.

You’ll embed tracking links throughout those articles, and when someone clicks them and makes a purchase, you pick up a commission.

Launch a YouTube Channel

There’s a whole lot of pet-related content on YouTube, which makes it an excellent platform for promoting Chewy.

To achieve success as a pet affiliate marketer on YouTube, you need to create content about pet products, then add an affiliate link to the video description.

That’s an extremely basic overview. For a proper guide, don’t miss our article on YouTube affiliate marketing.

Promote Chewy Via Social Media

In the same way that you can promote Chewy via YouTube, you can also use other social media accounts to reach and convert your audience.

The technicalities will vary from one platform to the next. To give a basic example, you can’t post tracking links within Instagram posts, but you can include them on Pinterest (and other sites).

However, social media algorithms change all the time, so we wouldn’t recommend relying solely on one or two social media platforms to reach your audience.

Trust us, a website is your best bet!

Pros & Cons of Chewy’s Affiliate Program

Chewy.com vs. Amazon Associates

Sure, Chewy is among the biggest online vendors of pet products in the world

But it’s not Amazon — Amazon sells everything.

So why sign up with Chewy when you can just join the Amazon Associates program instead?

There are a couple deciding factors.

Firstly, at time of writing, Amazon only pays a 3% commission on pet products, compared to the 4% or $15 per new customer sale on offer at Chewy.

Also, Amazon only offers a 24-hour cookie window, which is 13 days shorter than Chewy.

So Chewy is the clear winner, right?

Well… not necessarily.

For starters, Amazon’s cookie duration isn’t quite as stingy as it sounds, because as long as your referred customer adds something to their shopping cart within that 24-hour window, you’ll still earn a commission if they buy 90 days later.

Also, if they start shopping around and add a bunch of other, non-pet-related stuff to their cart, you get paid for all that too.

And given that Amazon is basically a conversion-driving machine, it’s almost impossible to visit the site without buying something, which gives you a great chance of bagging a commission.

In reality, the smart move is to sign up for both affiliate programs and see which works best for your audience, because they’re both great.

Should You Join the Chewy Affiliate Program

If you’re in the pet care niche and have an audience of pet lovers, signing up for the Chewy affiliate program is a total no-brainer.

It’s a huge name with a vast range of products and an excellent reputation. What’s not to like?

Of course, if you’re going to send decent traffic Chewy’s way, you’ll need a quality website.

That takes a lot of work — but we can help.

Just sign up for our free affiliate marketing training and we’ll tell you the seven secrets that make new websites 83% more successful.