Are Amazon's Prime members being "snatched away" by Google?

Google 's e-commerce push appears to be paying off and taking valuable market share from Amazon , with the latest data showing that more people are starting their online shopping journey with Google.

Morgan Stanley said in a report issued on Monday that a series of updates to Google's e-commerce business have led to an increase in online transactions on the platform .

The firm's analysts added that more people are starting their online shopping journey through Google. Interestingly, this shift is also happening among Amazon Prime members , who are searching for products less frequently on Amazon's website .

According to a Morgan Stanley survey conducted in November 2021, 57% of respondents said that their preferred platform for searching for new products is Google platforms, including search engines and YouTube, which is higher than 54% in May. During the same period, the proportion of Amazon Prime members who turned to Google platforms for initial searches jumped from 51% to 56% .

“The behavioral shift here is noteworthy,” Morgan Stanley analysts said, adding that the share of Prime members who started their searches on Amazon fell by more than 3 percentage points during the period.

The findings are particularly striking because Google’s share of shopping searches has been lower than Amazon’s for years. If Google succeeds in reversing that trend, it could mean billions of dollars more in search ad revenue and other potential gains.

" Part of the reason may be supply shortages on Amazon , while Google can source inventory from multiple platforms and retailers, " Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.

The pandemic has sparked a surge in e- commerce , benefiting e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Shopify , and at the start of the pandemic , some analysts wondered whether Google would fall behind.

But Google has introduced a slew of new features during this period, including moving shopping-related search results from paid products to organic search results, launching flash sales during holidays , and the ability to search for products using Google Images .

At the same time, YouTube, which is also owned by Google , also launched live shopping activities during the holidays. This series of measures has gradually increased Google's market share in e-commerce searches.

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