A new Econsultancy report has predicted that the UK affiliate marketing sector will generate over £4 billion of online retail sales this year.
Last year, the sector saw growth of 22 per cent to reach £3.82 billion, the Affiliate Marketing Buyer's Guide 2009 says.
Affiliate publishers and networks received an estimated £227 million in fees and commissions in 2008, with the industry's growth being attributed to the increase in demand for performance based marketing from advertisers.
Econsultancy suggests that the affiliate marketing sector accounted for almost ten per cent of all UK ecommerce sales last year.
This year will see the cost per acquisition model gain further ground within the online marketing sector, while voucher code and cashback websites will grow in popularity among consumers, the organisation predicts.
"Because it is rooted in performance, affiliate marketing is continuing to prosper as an industry and we believe the affiliate sector will remain at the forefront of ecommerce as it continues to drive a high proportion of online sales," states Linus Gregoriadis, research director at Econsultancy.
Research conducted by Econsultancy and Affiliate Window earlier this year found that one third of full time affiliates generate at least £50,000 of monthly sales for their merchants.
Less than a third of respondents to the survey said they thought the recession posed a threat to their marketing operations.
