Zone3 case study: closing down Shopify Collabs & Awin to join Avelon
Zone3 is a globally recognised triathlon and open water swimming brand, known for high-performance wetsuits, trisuits, swim accessories and technical apparel. They’ve built a loyal customer base spanning competitive triathletes, open water swimmers and endurance sport enthusiasts, with a strong reputation for innovation, quality and value across the UK, Europe, and beyond.
As an established DTC brand on Shopify, Zone3 needed an affiliate programme that could grow with them. One that gave them real visibility, proper control over their discount codes, and genuine incremental revenue instead of the leakage and complexity they were dealing with elsewhere.
Last updated: May 2026
The challenge
Before Avelon, Zone3’s affiliate activity was split across two separate platforms: Shopify Collabs and Awin. This fragmented setup created several headaches:
Coupon leakage and attribution gaps: Discount codes handed out to influencers and ambassadors kept turning up on third-party coupon sites, eating into margins and rewarding the wrong partners. Without one-time-use code enforcement, there was no reliable way to stop it.
Operational complexity: Managing affiliates, tracking performance, and reconciling commissions across two platforms meant double the effort, inconsistent reporting, and no way to see the full picture in one place.
Limited publisher reach: Neither Shopify Collabs nor Awin was delivering meaningful connections to the high-authority editorial publishers (the triathlon magazines, outdoor swimming titles, and respected review sites) that Zone3 wanted to partner with.
No cross-channel visibility: When a customer discovered a product through an influencer and then clicked through a publisher review before buying, there was no way to see that journey. Traditional last-click attribution meant one channel always lost out, making it impossible to understand how publishers and influencers were actually working together.
Why Zone3 chose Avelon
Avelon’s position as a specialist sports and outdoor affiliate network made it a natural fit. Three things sealed the decision:
One-time-use promo codes: Avelon’s anti-coupon leak technology generates a unique, single-use discount code for each affiliate transaction. Once used, that code can’t be reposted on voucher sites. For Zone3, this meant their ambassador and influencer codes would finally stay where they belonged, driving genuine, trackable conversions instead of leaking margin through coupon aggregators.
Curated publisher network: Avelon’s roster includes the UK’s most respected cycling, triathlon, and outdoor swimming publications. Titles like 220 Triathlon, Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, TRI247, and Men’s Fitness were already active on the platform, giving Zone3 instant access to high-authority editorial placements that would have taken months to set up independently.
Split Level Attribution: Unlike traditional last-click networks, Avelon tracks every affiliate touchpoint in the customer journey. When multiple affiliates contribute to a sale, each one is recognised. This was critical for Zone3, whose customers frequently interact with both influencer content and publisher reviews before purchasing.
Growth trajectory
Zone3 launched on Avelon in mid-2025 and the results came quickly. The programme ramped from a standing start, with revenue accelerating quarter on quarter.
Each quarter roughly doubled the last: Q4 was 6.7x Q3, then Q1 2026 was 2.3x Q4, and Q2 (with only April and May reported) was already 2.3x the full Q1.
The monthly view shows the inflection point even more clearly. After a steady build through autumn and winter, revenue took off from February 2026. The most recent month (May 2026) delivered an average order value of £219.
Traffic & partnerships
Avelon connected Zone3 with a powerful mix of high-reach publishers and high-converting influencers.
220 Triathlon stood out as the top publisher partner. They drove more than half of Zone3’s entire affiliate programme from a single partnership, and a great example of what happens when you connect a brand with exactly the right editorial audience.
Outdoor Swimmer Magazine delivered a 5.25% conversion rate, showing a strong fit between Zone3’s open water swimming range and the title’s engaged readership. Marvin Neumann achieved the highest conversion rate among top-traffic affiliates at 6.9%, demonstrating the power of trusted, niche influencer endorsements.
Anti-coupon leak (OTU codes) in action
One of the most tangible benefits of switching to Avelon has been the elimination of coupon leakage. With over 60% of transactions flowing through promo codes, this was a critical vulnerability on the previous platforms.
The data tells a clear story about how Zone3’s discount codes are being used:
51.6% of all sales used OTU promo codes generated through Avelon. Each code is unique and single-use, meaning it can’t be scraped, reposted, or reused. For Zone3, this directly protects the integrity of their ambassador relationships and ensures commission goes to partners who are actually driving new customers.
39.1% were click-based publisher sales with no discount code. These are clean editorial referrals from titles like 220 Triathlon and Outdoor Swimmer, where the customer clicked through a review or buying guide and bought at full price.
Just 9.3% used evergreen brand codes. These are campaign-specific codes like seasonal promotions. The low share of evergreen codes is a healthy sign: it means the vast majority of code-based sales are tracked and protected rather than floating freely across the internet.
OTU code usage grew by 8.9x from September to May. They now account for 64% of all code-based sales, with every single code protected from coupon leak by design.
Split level attribution: the full customer journey
One of Avelon’s key differentiators is Split Level Attribution: the ability to track every affiliate touchpoint in a customer’s journey, not just the last click.
For Zone3, this capability has revealed just how collaborative the path to purchase really is.
58.7% of all sales involved multiple affiliate touchpoints. Multiple affiliate touchpoints had an average order value of £199, which is 21% higher than single-touch sales (£164).
On a traditional last-click network, every one of those contributing affiliates would have been invisible.
The cross channel effect
The most valuable attribution type was cross-channel: sales where both a publisher click and an influencer promo code were present. This accounted for 45.1% of all transactions with the highest AOV of any attribution type at £216.
The AOV data is striking. Publisher-only sales average £148 with a median of just £60 (lots of accessories and smaller items). Influencer-only sales average £186 with a median of £159.
But when both channels contribute, AOV jumps to £216, a 45% uplift over publisher-only. The wetsuit attach rate also peaks at 58% for cross-channel sales, compared to 50% for publisher-only and 51% for influencer-only.
Cross-channel sales also produce more items per order (1.78 vs 1.61 for publisher-only), and account for 52.6% of total programme revenue despite being 45% of transactions.
By any measure, the combination of publisher and influencer touchpoints produces the best commercial outcome.
Who actually drives discovery?
Digging deeper into cross-channel sales reveals a fascinating picture of how publishers and influencers work together in the customer journey.
Overall, the split is nearly 50/50: publishers close 52.6% of cross-channel sales, influencers close 47.4%. But this shifts dramatically based on order value:
Under £50: influencers close 60% of sales. For lower-ticket items like swim goggles, caps, and accessories, the influencer’s recommendation is enough to seal the deal. Customers use the ambassador’s promo code at checkout after a quick browse.
£200+: publishers close 68% of sales. For high-consideration purchases like wetsuits, customers want editorial validation. They might discover the product through an influencer, but they go to 220 Triathlon or Outdoor Swimmer to read the review before committing. 68% of publisher-closed sales include a wetsuit, compared to 48% for influencer-closed.
This is exactly why Split Level Attribution matters. Without it, the influencer who sparked the initial interest in a £300 wetsuit gets nothing when the customer buys through a publisher link two days later. Avelon ensures both are recognised.
More touchpoints, bigger baskets
The relationship between touchpoint count and order value reinforces the case for tracking every interaction.
Customers who interact with a single affiliate before buying spend an average of £164. At two touchpoints, that rises to £192 (+17%). At three, £206 (+25%). And at six or more touchpoints, AOV reaches £257, a 56% uplift over single-touch, with 2.36 items per order (vs 1.65 for single-touch).
63.3% of all programme revenue comes from multi-touchpoint sales. These customers are doing their research, reading multiple reviews, checking influencer recommendations, and building bigger baskets in the process. A last-click model would attribute all of that value to a single affiliate and leave the rest unrewarded.
Product insights
The sales data reveals a clear product-market fit through the affiliate channel.
Wetsuits accounted for 76% of affiliate revenue with the Aspire, Agile, and Vision ranges leading the way. This makes perfect sense: wetsuits are high-consideration purchases where editorial reviews and trusted influencer endorsements carry real weight in the buying decision.
Accessories and swimwear made up the remaining 24%, showing healthy cross-sell through affiliate content.
The Venator-X Swim Goggles were the top-selling accessory line, followed by the Activate+ Trisuit and neoprene gloves and socks. These lower-ticket items are more likely to convert through influencer channels, where the personal endorsement is enough to close the sale without further research.
Summary
Zone3’s move from Shopify Collabs and Awin to Avelon has delivered transformational results: a 4.40% conversion rate and 19x revenue growth in under a year.
But beyond the top-line numbers, the depth of insight is what sets this programme apart.
Avelon’s Split Level Attribution revealed that 58.7% of sales involve multiple affiliate touchpoints, and that when publishers and influencers work together, AOV is 45% higher than publisher-only sales.
OTU promo codes have eliminated coupon leakage entirely, protecting code-based revenue. And the data now clearly shows how each channel contributes:
- Influencers spark discovery
- Publishers validate high-consideration purchases
- The combination produces the best commercial outcome
For brands in the sports and outdoor space looking to take control of their affiliate programme, Zone3’s story shows what a curated, specialist network with proper attribution can achieve.