IT Week: What are the biggest trends in online marketing today?
Kevin Kozinchik: The biggest trend is still the rapid uptake of e-commerce by retailers. Lots of them are buying e-commerce platforms, with Ikea being a recent example. On the affiliate marketing side, mobile tracking is a significant new trend and it is an area we have a lead in, because our technology is web-based and therefore easier to implement.

How quickly are businesses adopting mobile commerce technology?
I thought the UK would take a lead on this but it is not happening that way. It is hard to sell some retailers on the idea of moving into mobile commerce because they have only just got e-commerce. The type of products best suited to mobile comerce are those things that you know you want to buy but don’t have to try on, such as electricals. I’m talking about middle-of-the-road purchases, things that are not too expensive. Mobile commerce also lends itself to services that depend on location, like pizza delivery. Payment is something that needs to be sorted out, but PayPal on mobiles could help here.

How important is the IT department’s input to the success of e-commerce initiatives?
It is really important, but not always easy to come by. A big selling point of our solutions is that they are secure and reliable, but even they can take time to implement. Although it is easy to do for the tech-savvy, there are so many projects for the IT department to take care of that it often does not have the resources or bandwidth to do it.

How do you combat fraud in the affiliate channel?
You have to make sure that the type of affiliates you deal with are not the ones that will attract fraudulent customers. We have a tool that allows only one click per IP address, and another that shows every click-through so you can check if it has come from a fraudulent source or not. There will always be issues of fraud but affiliate marketing has come a long way.

What impact has Google had on the online marketing industry?
It has been a positive influence overall and has forced people to raise their game and look differently at the way they do things. Firms have realised they can’t silo different marketing channels [because Google is bringing them all together] and this is good because it brings more attention and focus to the industry.

Any predictions for 2008?
We will see consolidation in the industry, whether it is advertising networks joining together or larger media networks buying them up. Everyone’s currently trying to get involved with Facebook, but the key is how to integrate advertising with it in a subtle way that does not put off users.