• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, August 7, 2015

The starting point for mobile shoppers depends on what they’re looking for.

When looking for information, Google wins out, but for products, it’s all Amazon, based on a new study.

The majority (63%) of mobile shoppers turn to Google when looking for information but almost half (45%) start at Amazon when searching for a product, according to the study.

The study comprised the tracking and analysis of the decision process of a panel of 2,000 online and mobile shoppers by Pymnts and Amazon, both of which have skin in the mobile payments game.

Interestingly, when consumers look to buy online, most (64%) start by looking at marketplaces, while almost half (48%) start with their favorite merchant.

Fewer than half (40%) start with search.

This makes total sense, since a person shopping with a smartphone is likely looking for something specific and it may be based on current location of the shopper.

That person is less likely to be searching for something in general and more interested in finding something specific.

When it comes to new mobile payments, shoppers have different comfort levels with various companies, with no company garnering a majority. Here’s the comfort level consumers have with each for new mobile payments:

• 44% -- Amazon
• 22% -- Apple
• 17% -- Google
• 5% -- Facebook
• 4% -- Pinterest

It will be interesting to see if this perception remains the same after the mobile payments of the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) kicks in later this year, presuming the consortium of major retailers gets its long-awaited program off the ground.

That mobile payments situation would then position MCX member Walmart up against Amazon.

And that, if nothing else, may provide an indication of how many consumers might be swayed to give mobile payments a shot.