When you want to search for information about something, chances are you Google it. Google accounts for 81.62% of search engine market share, and to be honest thats not surprising.
When you want to talk to people and connect, chances are you use Facebook. They far outrank all other competitors in terms of active users, with 1590 million users (590 million more than the next best, WhatsApp)
And for the most part, it have been these big two who have dominated the digital advertising and online data market. But now we are seeing the rise of Amazon as a search engine platform, big enough to make even Google take notice.
This comes down to how users are interacting with Amazon, and how it has become popular and ubiquitous enough for users to not only see it as a purchasing platform, but as a source of information and product research. Advertising company Kenshoo, found 72% of people will visit Amazon at some point, for online research, before making a purchase.
Theres a reason for this as well. When you use google, you are offered a huge potion of the web served to you at the will of Googles algorithms. Therefore you are never completely sure of the legitimacy of reliability of the websites offering the product you are looking for. Sure Google strives to deliver the best content possible, but with ‘Black Hat’ SEO’s (Search Engine Optimisation) constantly evolving, this is not always the case.
With Amazon however, searches are sent through a search engine dedicated to find results which cater to your need, all on a user platform which guides you in the right direction. It is by no means perfect, and there are Amazon sellers who are far from legitimate, but it seems that the Amazon team is more than capable of managing this risk.
With this in mind, does this garner enough substance to worry Google? Companies are loving Amazon for this very reason, as it allows them to target their consumers and see the patterns and behaviours consumers show when deciding to purchase, in a way which even advertising on Google does not offer.
With digital marketing and big data becoming ever more useful and sought after, do you see this rise from Amazon possibly overthrowing the mighty Google as the premier online advertising platform. Or do you see these three companies (Google, Facebook and Amazon) becoming separate digital advertising platforms.
And finally, something to ponder upon (maybe a future blogpost). Does the emergence of these big three as such powerful online figures give you any reasons for concern. Should we be scared about how dependant we are on these companies, and how much they know about us?
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Shoot me a comment below!
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Interconnected, indefinitely. 
Great blog! I personally use Amazon as a reference of an online price before making my purchase and always use Google as my main search engine so I do see that there is a sort of monopoly with these companies as other competition is not as popular. I do think that at some point they can take over and with that, it can cause them to set prices or set the ‘norm’ which in my opinion isn’t a problem. I trust these sites and believe that if they provide the service I need I will continue to use them.
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Thanks for your comment! I do the same! I feel like Amazon has become so big its hard NOT to use it for price referencing. I still worry about all the power we give to these three big companies though, will it be long before they are telling us what to buy and where to look?
James
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