The Amazon marketplace is the world’s most popular product search engine. Yet its dominance faces emerging challenges from AI and social commerce.

For more than 20 years, Amazon has made it easy for shoppers to discover products, compare options, read reviews, and buy.

A 2024 Jungle Scout survey (PDF) of 1,000 U.S. online shoppers found that 56% initiated product searches on the Amazon marketplace, compared to 42% on traditional search engines (such as Google), and 29% on Walmart.com.

Why Amazon?

Amazon’s Prime membership was a stroke of ecommerce genius. The service changes the way some consumers think about prices and shipping.

Products on Amazon’s marketplace are often more expensive than competitors’, and Prime itself costs $139 per year. But to many shoppers, there’s little reason to look elsewhere when shipping is free, fast, and reliable.

Selection

Moreover, Amazon’s product selection is massive and all-inclusive. Amazon itself sells more than 12 million products. Third-party sellers add upwards of 600 million, according to published reports. A shopper looking for an item will likely find it on Amazon.

Trust

Consumers trust Amazon. They assume products will arrive on time, with returns and refunds issued without hassle.

This trust is worth a lot. A 2025 Salsify report (PDF) found that 87% of shoppers have paid more for a product because they trust the brand. Those same consumers would likely search for products on a trusted marketplace.

Reviews

The volume of reviews on Amazon attracts shoppers.

Reviews serve as decision insurance. They reduce uncertainty and shorten the research cycle, especially for products where use cases matter. Instead of reading a handful of articles, comparing retailer sites, and searching Reddit threads, shoppers can pull “social proof” from thousands of real buyers without leaving Amazon.

That convenience changes behavior. The marketplace becomes a place for decision-making, not just to buy. So why not start a product search where other shoppers can guide you?

Mobile app

Amazon’s mobile app provides an advantage.

Searching for products in a mobile web browser is frustrating, even in 2026. Pages load slowly. Pop-ups appear. Cookie prompts get in the way. Shoppers must pinch and zoom, navigate cluttered menus, and jump between tabs.

Amazon’s app eliminates much of that friction for mobile consumers. The search box is always one tap away, filters are quick to apply, product pages are consistent, and the comparison process happens naturally through scrolling rather than clicking across multiple sites.

It’s a good experience, and shoppers use it.

Search iteration

“Search iteration” is the refinement of a query.

Consumers in the product discovery mode typically have specific needs. Amazon search can route shoppers toward products they are likely to buy.

Brand and mindshare

Amazon is ubiquitous beyond products. Prime Video, Audible, Kindle, Fire TV, Echo devices, and Amazon’s creator and influencer content indirectly contribute to search dominance and habit.

Boston Consulting Group, for example, asserts that such “mindshare” is highly correlated with purchase consideration.

Put another way, the folks who watch Prime Video are likely to search for products on Amazon.

AI and Social

Taken together, these factors serve as a playbook for the leading product search engine and offer both lessons and dilemmas for merchants. A shop can, for example, decide to include products on Amazon solely for discovery benefits.

Another consideration is whether Amazon maintains its lead in product search.

Some 56% of respondents on the Jungle Scout 2024 survey began product searches on Amazon. But that percentage is down from the 61% reported by Jungle Scout in 2022 (PDF).

Something is chipping away at product search and discovery. In 2026, that “something” is likely AI and social.

AI commerce is likely to shift where the first query occurs, thus eroding Amazon’s product-search dominance.

As shoppers ask for “the best” product option, generative AI platforms will increasingly assemble shortlists from multiple sources, reducing the need to start with Amazon. AI will pull discovery and comparison out of the marketplace interface, although Amazon can still win the transaction.

Social commerce on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube will increasingly resemble search engines for lifestyle-driven categories. Shoppers, especially younger ones, often arrive at Amazon with a product already selected.

In those cases, Amazon becomes the fulfillment destination rather than the discovery engine, which changes the economics of product search and advertising on the platform.