CONFIRMED: Site loses 31% of merchants, replaces 80% of revenue in 5 weeks

CONFIRMED: Site loses 31% of merchants, replaces 80% of revenue in 5 weeks
When a major fashion advertiser pulled its public deal feed, one aggregator lost 31% of its live offers in a day. Documented recovery: they ran a manual-outreach sprint, signing 14 direct merchant deals to backfill the gap. Within five weeks they'd rebuilt 80% of lost commission revenue — at higher payouts, because direct deals carried 11-14% rates vs the network's 6%.
Why it matters: a feed shutdown can force a margin upgrade if you move fast on direct relationships.
We hear the outreach list was just 40 merchants. Targeted beats spray-and-pray.