Affiliate marketing is one of the driving forces behind e-commerce. In theory, it allows for various parties on the internet to profit from it in some way. Also, it encourages more people to get involved in the world of e-commerce, because starting and maintaining a business centered on affiliate marketing isn’t necessarily costly; though, doing it does require a substantial investment of time and or money to be seen as an expert in your niche which is essential to maintain traffic and sales as an affiliate. While this type of marketing program can benefit the end consumer, the question is whether or not it really does. The jury is still out on this one and likely will be for some time. The big problem is that it does benefit the consumer, but only in some situations. What affiliate marketing does is allow third party companies to act as middlemen between another company’s product or service and its potential customers. They do this by advertising on behalf of that company’s product by directly or indirectly pushing it on their own website. Let’s look at how this helps the consumer. It does so by providing more ways for people to discover products and services that are relevant to their needs and wants. If they visit a website to get information on a specific topic for instance, that website may suggest a book they were previously unaware of. The person can then visit the page where the book is being offered for sale and choose to buy it. In that example the consumer was helped. They had a problem, which was the need for information. They visited a website for information and along with it they got a book to help them even more. Another example would be a person visiting a website because they wanted to use the site’s service. The service may be a forum, a social network, a gambling site, marketing blog or pretty much anything else. They will then be offered links to products associated with that service. In the gambling example they will likely see links to poker accessories that they can order online. Again, this can easily be seen as a benefit as it brings the e-commerce world closer together.