How important is affiliate marketing in ecommerce business?

The average cost of acquiring customers has gone up by almost 60% for most industries in eCommerce. It is getting difficult for brands to not just reach their target audience on channels like email, social media and the search engine, but also tougher to win their trust. Affiliate marketing is a form of personal recommendation that often comes from people that one trusts or looks up to. As per surveys, more than 90% of consumers trust recommendations from people like them when making a purchase.