New research from ClickZ and Catalyst has found that the ecommerce customer journey is nonlinear and nonexclusive. Consumers visit Amazon and Google in great quantities, but there are numerous other, important retailers that advertisers largely ignore. This presentation highlights the key findings from the new report, as discussed at the Transformation of Search Summit in New York.

1. The Era of Ecommerce

2. This Morning
• The Era of Ecommerce Report
• Key Findings
• The Non-Exclusive Consumer
• Advertisers Are Struggling to
Keep Pace
• How Brands Can Capitalize on the
Opportunity
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About the Report
• Sequel to 2017’s Age of Amazon report
• Survey of over 1,000 consumers and 750 brand
marketers
• Interviews with senior leaders from Pinterest,
LEGO, Kantar Consulting, and many others.
The aim of this report is to analyze the full
consumer journey, across retailers and search
engines, from research to consideration to
purchase.
By doing so, we hope to provide brands with a
clear understanding of their audience and the best
ways to engage them through digital advertising.

4. Key Findings
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When a consumer knows what they
are looking for:
50% of ecommerce journeys
start with a retailer.
50% start with a search engine.
When a consumer does not know
what they are looking for:
62% of ecommerce journeys
start with a search engine.
38% start with a retailer.
But brands are not catering
to the new customer
journey.
Just 28% of brands have
a strategy for Amazon
advertising.
25% of brands have a
strategy for
non-Amazon retailers.
Advertisers are spending more on
Google/Amazon.
63% of brands plan to increase
Google Search spend.
26% will increase Amazon spend.
More brands will decrease (18%)
than increase (17%) spend with
other retailers.

6. The Non-Exclusive Consumer
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50%
Of consumers start with
a search engine when
they know what they
want; 50% go to a retailer
62%
Start with a search engine
when they do not know
what they want; 38% go to
a retailer

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Of the 50% of consumers who
start with a search engine, the
vast majority go to Google. This
gives Google a 46% share of the
total.
Amazon is the most popular
retailer for initial research.
However, there is also an
important long tail of retailers
who cater to different consumer
demands.

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When consumers do not know
what they want, they tend to visit
a search engine. Again, Google
dominates the search engine
share of the total.
Amazon is more dominant
among retailers here, which
gives it an 18% share of all
consumer research visits.

10. Which Sites Do You Visit Regularly?
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Across research,
consideration, and
purchase stages, Amazon
is the most visited retailer
or search engine. 96% of
consumers go to
Amazon.com on a regular
basis.
78% go to Google; 78% go
to Walmart.com.

11. For Which Purposes Do You Visit These Sites?
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Consumers visit each website
for research, consideration,
and purchase.
Google is the main starting
point for research.
Pinterest is very popular for
product imagery.
Amazon leads the way for
purchases, followed by
Walmart.

12. Consumer Electronics
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PurchaseComparison
Amazon is a consistent fixture
across all product categories,
but the competition is always
changing.

13. Furniture
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Comparison Purchase

14. Advertisers are Struggling to Keep Pace
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70% of responding brands to
this year’s survey have
increased their ecommerce
marketing budgets within the
last 12 months, while just 5.5%
have decreased spend.
Ecommerce
Budgets are
Growing

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But the Investment is Not Spread Equally
Google Paid Search and SEO are
the areas brands are planning to
invest in most.
Beyond these channels, Amazon
Advertising will see more
investment but most are planning
to spend the same as last year.
Brands are least likely to increase
investment in sponsored products
with non-Amazon retailers.

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Brands Are Not Advertising Where Their Audience Shops
As a result, there is
a widening gap
between
advertisers and
consumers on all
retailers.
Amazon is a slight
exception to this,
but even here
brands are not
aligned with
consumer
behaviors.

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Advertisers step up
activity once a
consumer shows clear
purchase intent.
This trend appears across
all major retailers and
search engines.
For example, 34% of
consumers compare
products on Walmart; 7% of
brands say they have
optimized their product
descriptions for this retailer.

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