Affiliate Provider Connection & Onboarding System

## Overview

LeadStorefront should provide a guided onboarding and connection system that allows operators to easily connect affiliate providers, travel partners, retailer networks, and lead-generation platforms to their storefront infrastructure.

The goal is to reduce friction when setting up affiliate and conversion workflows while standardizing provider configuration across storefronts and markets.

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# Objectives

- Simplify affiliate provider onboarding
- Standardize provider configuration
- Reduce manual setup complexity
- Improve affiliate activation rates
- Support market-aware affiliate routing
- Enable reusable provider integrations

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# Core Features

## Provider Directory

Provide a list of supported providers and networks.

Examples:

- Booking.com
- Agoda
- Expedia
- Travelpayouts
- CJ Affiliate
- Awin
- Impact
- Rakuten Advertising
- Direct tour operators
- Retail partner programs

Each provider should include:
- provider description
- registration URL
- approval requirements
- supported markets
- tracking parameter format
- API availability
- deep-link support

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# Provider Connection Flow

## Step 1 — Select Provider

User selects a provider from the supported provider list.

Example states:
- Not connected
- Registration required
- Pending approval
- Connected
- Tracking active

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## Step 2 — Registration Guidance

Provide onboarding guidance and external signup links where required.

Example:
- affiliate signup URL
- required business details
- payout requirements
- approval expectations
- supported countries

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## Step 3 — Provider Configuration

Allow operators to configure provider settings.

Example fields:

txt id="vv0n4i" Provider Name Affiliate ID Partner ID AID CID Sub ID format Click reference format Tracking domain Deep-link base URL API key Default market Commission type Approval status

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## Step 4 — Validation

Generate test affiliate links and validate:
- required parameters
- routing format
- deep-link compatibility
- market behavior

Example:

txt id="2u0jz8" booking.com/?aid=48291

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# Outbound Link Builder

Generate outbound affiliate links automatically using:
- market context
- storefront context
- campaign attribution
- user tracking session
- provider configuration

Example output:

txt id="av77i4" https://partner.com/hotel? aid=48291 &subid=uk_instagram_campaign &clickref=session_83922

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# Attribution Integration

Connected providers should integrate with:
- UTM persistence
- click IDs
- lead records
- conversion tracking
- storefront analytics

Supported parameters:
- utm_source
- utm_campaign
- fbclid
- gclid
- subid
- clickid
- partner_id

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# Admin Features

## Provider Dashboard

Display:
- connected providers
- setup completion state
- approval status
- active markets
- clicks
- leads
- conversion metrics
- revenue metrics (future)

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# Reusable Provider Templates

Support provider-specific templates for common affiliate systems.

Examples:

txt id="3zyw6l" Booking.com → aid Awin → clickref CJ Affiliate → sid Impact → subId1 Travelpayouts → marker Agoda → cid

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# Future Enhancements

- OAuth-based provider connections
- API-driven commission sync
- Revenue reporting
- Affiliate payout analytics
- Dynamic retailer optimization
- Conversion scoring
- Multi-provider routing
- AI-based offer ranking
- Auto-generated deep links

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# Positioning

This feature helps position LeadStorefront as:
- storefront infrastructure
- affiliate operations infrastructure
- conversion infrastructure
- localized commerce tooling
- campaign operations platform

instead of only a storefront publishing system.

The issue does not identify any files, tests, or entry points, and it describes a broad provider directory, onboarding flow, link builder, attribution system, and dashboard. Start by surveying the repository structure to locate existing provider, storefront, tracking, and admin entry points; done would require an agreed scope and acceptance criteria for the selected subset.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.