In order to buy a medium/high ticket item (>$500) online I guess that surfers need a lot of trust in a website before they follow recommendations on it and actually buy high ticket items at partner shops that in turn generate CPA revenue from affiliate programs. Does this (logically) mean that promoting high ticket items with PPC for a web shop is not profitable? Because surfers who click on PPC ads are not likely to have built up confidence in the website's landing page that recommends a webshop's products?
They don't need to really trust the website. Just the merchant. The only thing you need to be able to do is get that visitor to click on the merchant link.
In case the visitor already knows what he wants I agree. That means for high ticket items you need to bid on very specific ppc keywords. if the visitor is undecided (broader keyword phrases) however, the landing page would have to recommend certain products, and then the visitor needs trust I guess, especially when buying high ticket items. Do you agree?
They are more likely to buy expensive stuff when they are actively looking for it. Trust is an issue too.