Before you start reading, the question to ask youself all through this is: Where is my business in this equation?

According to market research firms, online sales this holiday season — defined as November and December — will hit $94.7 billion this year, or a record 10.7 percent of total projected holiday sales of $884.5 billion.

And of that $95 billion in cyber sales, Amazon is expected to claim more than a 25% chunk. Yes, one of every four sales will be via Amazon.

Last year, it accounted for over a quarter of online holiday sales. It should be even higher this year, as Amazon’s revenue growth continues to outpace e-commerce growth as a whole.

Indeed, fully 55% of consumers now turn to Amazon first when searching for products online. That’s up 11% over last year, further cementing its lead over search engines (28 percent) and retailer websites (16 percent) as the go-to place for product searches.

But Amazon’s reach extends even further, BloomReach found: Approximately 9 out of 10 shoppers will check Amazon even if they find a product they want on another retailer’s site, with 78 percent doing so either often or always.

Comparison shopping also worked against Amazon, however, as 70% of consumers said they’ll consult another retailer before buying on Amazon. Of those though, only 52% said they always or often double-checked other retailers prior to purchase.

“Amazon continues to be the first destination when consumers want to find a product, driven largely by a perceived superior end-to-end experience,” said BloomReach marketing chief Jason Seeba. “Online shopping is all about relevance and convenience, and comparison shopping has never been easier — especially with mobile growth.”

Specifically:

*Fifty-three percent of respondents felt Amazon had the best site experience overall;

*One in three cited Amazon’s site experience as the main reason they choose Amazon over other retailers;

*More than 50 percent distinguished Amazon’s site search and product-filtering capabilities as superior;

*Forty-one percent reported a retailer’s bad site-search experience caused them to shop on Amazon; and

*Fifty percent have left a retailer’s site when they couldn’t find a product they knew a retailer carried.

Search engines still play an integral part of an e-commerce strategy. Just because consumers start on Amazon, that doesn’t mean they ultimately buy from Amazon.