Search Trends - Search Engine Marketing

I found this article interesting. It talks about a change in the percentage of online buyers who start their shopping trips at aggregator sites. It includes search engines in the list of aggregator sites, but I wonder if more and more people are bypassing search engines to go to shopping sites. It can be a daunting task to sort through all the search results to find what you're looking for. Many times there is so much information to sort through, it can be overwhelming to use a search engine to shop--especially for users with less online search experience. I think it depends what they're shopping for, but if someone knows what they want, it makes sense for them to go where they can find the widest selection and/or sort by price. That's why Yahoo Shopping, Froogle, BizRate and all the others will continue to grow as more people realize just how useful they can be. I also think these sites will continue to work together WITH regular search engines to provide users with convenient access to whatever they're searching for.