Google Struggles to Unseat Amazon as the Web’s Most Popular Mall

Whether you are looking to buy a power tool or neon jeans online, chances are you start your search on Google or Amazon.com. But which one? Behind the scenes, the two companies are waging a war to become the pre-eminent online mall. And e-commerce sites large and small are caught in the cross-fire. As for consumers, the question is whether they will see a full range of products available online. Google is a search engine, not a store, but it is increasingly inching into e-commerce with products like its comparison-shopping service, Google Shopping.