What is Affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based arrangement in which affiliates earn a commission for each visit, signup or sale they generate for a merchant.
Why does Affiliate marketing matter for marketers?
It shifts cost to results, but tracking, disclosure and fraud rules matter, and it competes with other channels for attribution credit.
Where does Affiliate marketing stand today?
Wikipedia says revenue sharing or pay per sale is used by about 80% of programs, cost per action by about 19%, and that large companies such as Amazon run their own programs while most merchants use affiliate networks that provide tracking, reporting and payment. Amazon Associates launched in 1996. Risks include spam, cookie stuffing, adware, trademark bidding and missing FTC disclosures.
Common use cases
- Paying partners per sale or lead
- Reaching audiences through content and comparison sites
- Running a programme through a network
The history on the page runs from PC Flowers & Gifts on the Prodigy network in 1989, through CDNow’s BuyWeb program in 1994 and Amazon Associates in 1996, to the 2018 US Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair that let states assert sales tax jurisdiction regardless of affiliates.
Some sections of the article are flagged as possibly containing original research.