What kind of businesses profit from affiliate marketing and how is this strategy carried out?
There are no absolutes in marketing [which I realize is its self an absolute].
Affiliate Marketing can be very successful but it’s also declined over the years for a number of reasons.
Larger brands started with large programs because they didn’t necessarily have the expertise or reach in-house, but with the huge sales ecommerce generates, that’s rarely the case. Furthermore many companies found that having broad affiliate networks lead to low quality listings, spam and a poor user experience in the rush to grab sales.
Smaller companies struggle from the opposite side with limited resources to get into bigger programs, manage their programs and of course have less draw since they aren’t known and thus harder to profit from for publishers.
Finally you have the publishing side’s own changes. While affiliate programs can mean a huge upside, they really reflect the way commerce works, especially these days. People switch devices, losing cookies. People take longer than ever to buy, having cookies expire. Sales are rarely created in just one click and a short duration so the last-stop mentality has caused many publishers to look at other types of programs which reward them for creating exposure and interest as well as sales.
Of course there’s some great content sites out there and that’s where the affiliate market is focused. Not on huge numbers, not on taking everyone, but on finding partners who aren’t just gaming the system or promoting the biggest names but instead have enough unique value to drive people who may not have otherwise came over to them.
This may not be what you were looking for versus an option but I think it’s important to get the “why” not just the “what” as at the end of the day, the programs you chose to use will be based on your understanding of how each works in relation to what you offer.