Who knows is Amazon a search engine in the ordinary sense of this word, or not at all?

Wait, you are wondering is Amazon a search engine, literally, right? But the thing is that there must be a slightly different thing, which is actually giving the headline to this subject discussion. I think the question you are submitting should be given in a more clear and proper manner. In fact, it has to be carried as follows: “Is Amazon a new search engine for products?”. That way, your question sounds now in a more exact and proper way, right? Giving us our first clue to the identity of Amazon, a newly submitted question will be fully emphasizing the essential role of Amazon ecommerce marketplace in this context, as well as the A9 product ranking algorithm in particular. All that being said, let’s try to clear the mystery and finally decide – is Amazon a search engine, literally? Or can it be a completely different thing, strange to most of us after all? Well, below I'm going to weigh all those assumptions, with their pros and cons, to offer you the right answer. Hope it will make all things clear for you, at least those related to Amazon's real nature.

Is Amazon a New Search Engine for Products?

First of all, I'd like to show you a widely mentioned opinion telling that Amazon is the world's largest ecommerce retailer, not a search engine, for example, such as Google itself, Baidu, Bing, etc. In fact, however, such a clear-cut and fully categorical statement doesn't seem to be the unmistakable one, at least in part. That's why below I'm going to show you just several cold facts backed with some clear figures – simply because I think they are speaking for themselves. Seriously. No ifs, ands, or buts here.

Cold Figures and a Few Statistics about Amazon

Well, given that the question we’re wondering would read: “Is Amazon a new search engine for products in the ordinary sense of this word?”, here is a short list that actually comes far beyond the statistics. And I just want to share it with you – for a very illuminating response to that request, I should admit. And here are some of the most interesting findings finally released with the recent study by Kenshoo marketing technology company. And these results seem to be really alarming, at least for Google search engine itself. Probably, the world’s online search giant should be concerned with that (if not alarmed, indeed) – as that comprehensive research is not only based on the actual data vividly seen throughout four different states, but appears to have in-store usage clearly included to the survey as well.

• Most commonly, 3 in 4 buyers will check Amazon for product information anyway, even if they find what they need elsewhere on the Internet.
• About 72% of users should definitely pay a visit on Amazon before taking their final buying decision – just to become well-informed about the product they are looking for. More specifically, the recent research by Kenshoo has pulled together different product data, as follows: offer prices, main product details, and customer reviews. It means that the lion’s share of potential shoppers is already used to learn such product data namely on Amazon marketplace, and nowhere else.
• Over 25% of shoppers reviewed by the survey admitted to using Amazon in order to get well-informed on the product features, benefits, major elements of everyday usage, customer reviews, as well as the average pricing – when browsing in a retail web shop and even physical stores.
• Nearly 56% of Amazon buyers reconfirmed the fact that they were more likely to research products they need – paying their initial visit on Amazon in particular.

At the same time, however, Google search engine still keeps the lead having something around 85% ranked for product research, next comes Amazon online marketplace with the relative share of 72%, followed with eBay having ranked third at 37%, and the rest of ecommerce platforms ranked at 35%. Nevertheless, the experts think that the existing gap might be closing soon. And more importantly, the world’s leading ecommerce marketplace is expected to keep moving on with an increasingly speedy pace – so who knows, is Amazon already a search engine leader for products, or just about taking a total market domination in the short-term prospect, right?

Bottom Line

For conclusion, let me highlight that this new research is betting on a far-reaching international approach, in line with having three other world’s leading ecommerce markets, as well as physical store engagement taken into account during the analysis. What’s more – given that the international research involved over 1,000 consumers from the US, and another 700 active online shoppers surveyed in Germany, UK and France each during August 2017 – I think that a similarly convincing marketing story that suggested a booming consumer behaviour on Amazon (assessed in the United States earlier this year) looks now not that impressive. Anyway, the current way of the whole ecommerce development had been already suggested by several other globally recognized surveys, even despite they had been held within just one single state each. 

For those who may still hesitate is Amazon a new search engine for products that will be ruling all over the world (and maybe it happens even sooner than most of us can think), here is my last convincing argument for today. Of course, it might as well seem like a no-brainer, particularly to those big-time online retailers having already spent many years in the industry, but sooner or later, all of us will have to face it after all. Just because the current course of events clearly indicates that there is a significant disrupting shift currently reconfirmed by the increasing number of marketing experts – with Amazon moving the way of evolving into a product search engine in the ordinary sense of the word, it simply becomes impossible for online retailers to prevent buyers from comparison shopping on Amazon, not to say they have no power at all to stop that already measurable sale leakage pulled away towards the latter.