Survey: Amazon, Google rank as top channels for consumer research

Two sites dominate the field when consumers go online to research products.

Amazon and Google are the top channels for consumer research, with 89% and 82% of consumers, respectively, researching products on the sites during the past 12 months, according to a study of global consumers by ChannelAdvisor Corp.  Rounding out the top five were eBay (52%), Facebook (27%) and Instagram (24%).

The survey also found that pricing is a major factor for all consumers before making a purchase. Eighty-three percent of consumers usually compare prices before making a purchase, and 99% consider price a somewhat or very important factor in product selection. Sixty-one percent of consumers indicated their reason for researching products online before or during shopping in-store “often” involves checking prices.

Additional findings from ChannelAdvisor’s 2022 E-Commerce Consumer Survey are below.

Holiday:

• 84% of consumers plan to spend the same amount of time or more shopping for holiday gifts online compared to last year; and
• 19% of 18- to 25-year-old consumers plan to conduct holiday shopping research on social media sites.

Marketplaces:

• 89% of consumers browse items on marketplaces or retail sites without the direct intention to purchase something;
• 42% of consumers “discovered” products they’ve purchased in the past 12 months by browsing marketplaces; and
• 76% of consumers tend to use multiple marketplaces on a regular basis for browsing, shopping, or buying.

Retail media advertising 

• 42% of consumers have clicked on a sponsored or promoted ad that they saw on a marketplace or retail site in the past 12 months; and
• 44% of consumers have purchased an item on Amazon after seeing an ad for that product on Amazon.

Global trends

•38% of consumers have purchased an item from a foreign retail site or marketplace in the past 12 months

“To stay competitive and agile in this changing environment, brands and retailers must first understand how, where and why consumers are shopping,” said Mike Shapaker, chief marketing officer at ChannelAdvisor. “These survey results provide valuable insights that will help empower sellers to gain strategies to help capture consumer attention as the holiday season approaches.”

Methodology
ChannelAdvisor commissioned research firm Dynata to survey 5,000 consumers in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Australia about their online shopping and research habits in 2022. Respondents, who ranged in ages from 18 to 65, were screened and sampled in partnership with Dynata.