Online Marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Score Well in New Survey

Internet search engines and social media sites are increasingly driving global online shopping trends, according to a new survey conducted by Pitney Bowes. Most of the consumers surveyed prefer purchasing products through online marketplaces like eBay (EBAY), Amazon (AMZN), and Alibaba (BABA) as opposed to going directly to a retailer's own website. 'We see about two-thirds of consumers really want to shop on marketplaces, and that varies in different countries around the world,' said Lila Snyder, President of Global E-Commerce at Pitney Bowes. Most of the consumers surveyed said they use search engines such as Google (GOOG), Yahoo (YHOO), Bing, Yandex (YNDX) and Baidu (BIDU), and 32% said they would consider buying products found there. Twelve percent of consumers said they would consider buying goods found online on social media companies like Facebook (FB), Instagram, Twitter (TWTR), Weibo (WB), Webchat and Line. 'We're seeing things look mobile and social take off, that shouldn't be surprising,' said Snyder. 'Particularly around searching on social, countries like India and China, it was really prevalent in this survey.' Approximately one out of four consumers are now using mobile devices to shop.