Google’s Eric Schmidt – Amazon Our Biggest Competitor

The chairman of Google has revealed that their biggest rival when it comes to search is the e-commerce giant Amazon.

This came after Eric Schmidt was asked about having to ensure rival services received equal standing in their search results, which was forced upon them as they looked to avoid paying billions in fines back in February.

Mr Schmidt disagreed with many who claimed that Google were given little in the way of competition when it came to the online search market.

“at their roots, they are answering users’ questions and searches, just as we are”

“Many people think our main competition is Bing or Yahoo. But, really, our biggest search competitor is Amazon” he said during a speech in Berlin.

“People don’t think of Amazon as search, but if you are looking for something to buy, you are more often than not looking for it on Amazon”.

“They are obviously more focused on the commerce side of the equation, but, at their roots, they are answering users’ questions and searches, just as we are”.

Are Amazon Really Google’s Main Competitors?

It’s slightly more difficult to comprehend the meaning behind Schmidt’s claims that Amazon are answering questions in a similar style to Google, but there is certainly enough feasibility in his prior statements to understand where he’s coming from.

Amazon may not be designed to provide search results in a similar way to Google, but the growth of the online commercial market has led to more of us seeking out what we want to purchase using search engines.

Branching Out

Let’s not forget that Amazon have started to branch out from their e-commerce business, using their online reputation as the world largest online retailer as a selling point.

The live-streaming gaming network Twitch Interactive was bought by the e-commerce giant in August for a fee of £603m. It was said that Google had also been in discussions regarding the purchase of Twitch.

Will Anyone Topple Google?

Eric Schmidt added he was “wary of the next Google” and supported this by stating that “change comes from where you least expect”.

This could mean that any company looking to claim back some of Google’s 90% dominance in the online search market could literally start out in someone’s garage.