In e-commerce, an affiliate program is a marketing tool utilized by a marketing and ad agency or a specific brand to improve sales of services and products. The goal is for account executives or marketing specialists to develop relationships with external affiliates, such as websites that sell ad space, bloggers, and social media influencers. Your responsibilities as an affiliate or representative are to leverage their networks to drive traffic to a retailer or online merchant and build awareness of the brand. The e-commerce merchant then pays you a commission based on sales attributable to your effort, which is tracked by link clicks or referral codes. You can also work on the administrative side of an affiliate program for a marketing or ad tech agency or retailer.