Google at present is the king of the ‘search jungle’ in the U.S. internet industry. However, if current trends are any indication, we might soon see a shift in the current market dynamics.
Google’s search dominance has come under threat from multiple fronts. But if there is one opponent that has the capability to upset Google, that is Amazon. Amazon is expected to expand its reach in the search-advertisement market. Meanwhile, Google’s is expected to decline.
More-and-more digital marketers are including Amazon in their digital marketing campaigns. As businesses find it more logical to advertise to buyers already on the platform willing to spend money.
Rapid Growth Of Amazon
75% of U.S. online buyers shop on Amazon the majority of times they need to buy something. This statistic shows how meteoric the growth of Amazon has been in the consumer business. With regard to search-advertisements, Amazon’s share in the paid search market in the United States is expected to rise by 30%.
The dominance that Amazon enjoys over the U.S. based consumer is an extreme advantage over Google. Marketers know that running digital marketing campaigns for a product on a prospective buyer is going to yield better results.
Multiple-Front Battle For Google
Google has inevitably hit a critical saturation point of increasing dominance. At this saturation point, Google is surrounded by multiple opponents who are constantly chipping away at its monopoly.
Challengers have risen from both the offline and online worlds to threaten Google’s search crown. Offline players include marketplace-giants like – Wallmart and Target. Meanwhile, the online world has social media and eCommerce companies like – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and eBay.
If this wasn’t enough, digital marketers have pivoted from traditional online marketing techniques of board-spectrum ads. Modern digital marketing campaigns reply more on targeting niche groups of potential consumers. This behavior can be starkly seen in the stellar rise of Reddit as the platform of choice for many niche marketers.
Changing Market Share Dynamics
According to recent market research, it is predicted that Google will maintain its strong lead in the market, but will lose steam and drop its market share worth $40.33 Billion. This is a particularly concerning news for Google, which has renewed its focus as an advertisement-friendly platform with its recent copyright-updates on YouTube.
This data also shows a deep trend in the digital marketing industry. More-and-more digital marketers are favoring either social media-driven influencer marketing or hyper-localized marketing in their digital marketing campaigns. Which is why new social media companies like TikTok are carving out a niche for themselves in the digital marketing industry.
User Preferences & Impact
Google has enjoyed immense popularity among many young users, but the fact is that slowly those young users are growing old. Thus it is imperative for us to understand the next generation of consumers if we want to understand the rise of Amazon.
A consumer-base that is extremely internet and tech-savvy won’t fall prey to traditional digital marketing campaigns of PPC, SEO, SEM, etc. Marketers understand this shift and hence are pulling away from Google and focusing on direct-to-consumer marketplaces like Amazon.
Our Take
Generational change, rise in competition, and overall change in market perceptions are what is leading the change in the search-advertisement industry. One thing needs to be stressed though, it is still too early to call it a day for Google.
The reason Google has a near-monopoly on the search-advertisement market is the fact that they listen to their users. If enough people talk about Amazon’s rise as they are, Google will listen.
The search-marketing industry has always been turbulent for small-to-medium businesses. Therefore it is in the best interest of businesses to partner with digital marketing agencies that are not only pro-efficient in search-marketing but also SMO, SMM, Content Marketing, etc.
