Dive Brief:

• Some 40% of all adults “always” or “most of the time” search Amazon, compared to 10% who say they never do, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey.

• And half of Americans searching Amazon also make a purchase there, compared to the paltry 3% that retailers on average see search turn to purchase, the survey found.

• The phenomenon is an all ages affair. While most consumers searching Amazon are in general younger, wealthier, better educated, and more likely to live on the West or East coasts, Amazon also snags 41% of American consumers 65 years old or older for search on its site, and almost half of them also buy.

Dive Insight:

We’ve seen before research showing that Amazon handily beats Google on search. 

Amazon is just a convenient place to search because of its detailed product descriptions and reviews, and its huge assortment, Jason Goldberg, VP of commerce for digital marketing firm Razorfish, told Retail Dive earlier this year.

“For a lot of people who want to do product research online, you go to Amazon because they have information about every product in the world,” Goldberg said. “So Amazon has a huge head start, and that’s how Amazon becomes the online shopping destination.”

That also gives Amazon rich data about what people are looking for and what they’re most likely to actually buy. And that, no question, puts other retailers in a bind.