When it
comes to searching for products on the web, many consumers treat Amazon like a
regular Internet search engine.
In a new
Survata study of American consumers, a sizable 44% indicated they head straight
for Amazon’s website when they want to shop for a particular product. That
means other retailers—especially smaller, independent ones—don’t even get a
chance to compete for those shoppers online, unless somehow Amazon doesn’t carry
the item.
Amazon’s
personalization technology received high marks from respondents, with 75%
saying other online sellers don’t come close and 87% indicating they’d rather
do business with a site capable of ascertaining their needs and guiding them to
suggested products.
Retailers
have a little more opportunity to snag a sale with 34% of the survey
respondents who said they look for products first on the major search engines,
notably Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Just 21% of survey-takers habitually begin their
search for products at a specific retail merchant.
Of
consumers who use their smartphone to shop, the biggest reason (given by 47%)
was to obtain information on products and prices.