A new survey from Salmon has revealed that almost two thirds of people across the UK and the US see product pricing as the key factor when choosing where to shop online.

The availability of free shipping came in as the second priority, cited by 54 per cent of respondents as having a significant influence over whether or not they choose to buy from a particular site, according to Internet Retailing.

Thirty nine per cent said that the brand of the outlet in question was relevant to their decision, which means that lesser-known sites are likely to struggle against the big boys.

Indeed the power of Amazon’s brand was once again proven as it managed to account for 35 per cent of all e-commerce sales in the UK, with a greater 50 per cent share of the market in the US.

Around half of consumers said that they tend to begin their search for a product via Amazon’s site, while 80 per cent said that they would often visit Amazon later in the buying journey in order to check its pricing of a specific product and see how it stacks up against rivals.

This shows that Amazon’s customers are not completely loyal, but it does manage to capture around 55 per cent of the sales which arise from people visiting its site as their first port of call for a stint of safe shopping online.

Price is often something that lures customers away from Amazon, with 46 per cent of people saying they made purchases from competing sites because items were cheaper there. A quarter said that the shipping services provided elsewhere were also better than Amazon, which gives a glimmer of hope concerning its monopoly on the market.