Amazon Becoming More Compelling Advertising Platform, States The Drum

As Amazon wields a growing power as a search engine, it is also becoming a more compelling advertising platform, states The Drum, and, as a result, “is posing the first real challenge to Google and Facebook, which have long commanded digital advertising budgets virtually unopposed. Of the two, Google initially stands to lose more, but as Amazon’s ad offerings expand, Facebook could also bleed ad dollars.

“At the same time, it is unlikely Amazon will overthrow this so-called ‘duopoly’ until it starts to do more with online media and command a larger chunk of consumers’ time. So, instead, we’re likely to end up with three digital advertising powerhouses instead of two.

“Here’s how that’s likely to play out:

“Research shows many consumers turn to Amazon when looking for information about products. Figures vary from 31% to 55% when it comes to first-time research – and a study from marketing technology company Kenshoo found 72% of people visit Amazon at some point before making a purchase when they want to research products online.

“According to Collin Colburn, analyst on the B2C marketing team at market research firm Forrester, use of Amazon as a search engine will continue to grow for two reasons:

“Amazon is built like a product-specific search engine – consumers can search for anything product-related and get relevant results better and quicker than they can with Google.

“Second, Colburn noted Amazon is unique in that its product listing pages have virtually everything a shopper could want to know – including price, description, pictures and reviews – which gives customers a one-stop shop for research even if they aren’t actually going to buy from Amazon.”

Read the whole article here.