Rakuten LinkShare has appointed Anthony Capano as managing director of its Australian operations.
Capano will be in charge with expanding Rakuten LinkShare’s presence and offerings in the Australian market. This includes managing a growing client base – both locally and for those international online retailers looking to enter the Australian market – as well as educating the retailers and publishers on the value of the affiliate marketing channel.
Since the Australian launch of Rakuten LinkShare six months ago, the company has already established a strong portfolio of local retailers as part of the network, including Appliances Online, Dyson Australia, Styletread and oo.com.au.
“Anthony has a deep understanding of the local retail market and drawing on his knowledge and experience will undoubtedly enable us to grow Rakuten LinkShare’s presence in Australia,” said Yaz Iida, chief executive officer, Rakuten LinkShare.
“As e-commerce continues to grow down under, this hire is a strategic part of our business plan to meet the needs of local online retailers in Australia and global advertisers looking to expand their businesses to Australian consumers.”
Capano joins Rakuten LinkShare from Salmat where he spent 14 years in various roles from accounts management to business development and senior sales positions. Most recently, Capano was the general manager of the Targeted Media Solutions NSW arm of the business, where he took the lead on acquiring and assisting Salmat’s major retail clients, including David Jones, Woolworths Limited, Aldi Supermarkets and IKEA.
“Rakuten LinkShare has high aspirations for the affiliate marketing industry in Australia which is growing steadily and is quickly catching up with the more mature markets of the UK, US and Japan. I’ve joined at an exciting time and I‘m confident that we will continue along our path to success by sharing with more advertisers and publishers the value that affiliate marketing brings,” said Capano.