It's Black Friday, and a largely turkey-addled nation's eyes often turn to holiday shopping on the year's biggest day for commerce (with tech-focused deals on Cyber Monday just a few days away as well).

But when it comes to shopping online, where are people starting their hunt for deals? It's still largely Google Search (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Morgan Stanley says - and even members of Amazon Prime (AMZN) largely report starting product searches on Google.

Google's position atop the e-commerce funnel is still robust, the firm's Brian Nowak and team said.

"We see GOOGL's retail search innovation the past few years bringing more merchants and inventory across improved GOOGL e-commerce experiences (Search, Maps, YouTube etc.) and our AlphaWise survey data continue to show how e-commerce consumer behavior (including Prime member behavior) remains strong on GOOGL," the firm said.

Also important, as the consumer weakens (if the consumer weakens), "with e-commerce/CPG making up ~42% of total online advertising, we see this position as being key to driving durable paid search growth."

Among its key takeaways, the firm says "More Americans visit Google (including YouTube) first when researching products online than Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT) combined (58% vs. 27%)."

Some 35% of Americans visit Google first when they are trying to compare prices for already researched products, Nowak and team added - another key driver for a holiday season when consumers may be more price sensitive after 2022's inflation.

Read the full article at seekingalpha.com