How Often are you "Amazon First"?

About 55 percent of consumers turn to Amazon first when searching for products online, according to research conducted on behalf of BloomReach. But higher percentages will go straight to Amazon if they already know what they are looking for.

When holiday shoppers know what gift they want, 59 percent will start on Amazon, 24 percent will start on a search engine, and 16 percent will start at a retailer that has that product.

When holiday shoppers don't know what gift to buy, 49 percent will start on Amazon, 28 percent will start on a search engine, and 26 percent will start on a retailer the gift recipient likes.

Those findings make sense. If a person has a problem, but is not sure about the solution, using a search engine--”Google it”--makes sense. But if a person already has chosen a particular solution, then it makes sense to go straight to Amazon.

The "State of Amazon" study, which surveyed 2,000 U.S. consumers, found that search engines and retailers lost almost equal ground, coming in at 28 percent and 16 percent respectively.

Amazon increased its share by 11 percent in one year.

The study also found that mobile devices are driving more than half of all traffic to top sites and has grown to 30 percent of all U.S. e-commerce.

While Amazon (mobile site or app) still commanded 50 percent of consumers' first stop for products on mobile, search engines fared better with 34 percent, with retailers lagging at 16 percent.