With the impending arrival of Amazon in Australia, a new study has revealed just how much strain the e-commerce giant is likely to put on local online retailers.

The survey, commissioned by parcel delivery service CouriersPlease, initially explored whether online shoppers currently prefer purchasing from retailers that specialise in a single category (such as fashion or technology) over online marketplaces, where they can shop across multiple categories from the same site.

More respondents (58 per cent) admitted they prefer to shop from a specialist online retailer than a marketplace (42 per cent).

However, when told that Amazon will focus on providing low prices, a vast selection of products and fast delivery when it launches later this year Down Under, 90 per cent of survey respondents said they would shop from the e-commerce giant.

Lower prices is the main reason shoppers would purchase from Amazon (68 per cent), followed by a wider range of products (55 per cent of respondents), while just 30 per cent of respondents said fast delivery times would be the main reason for them to shop on Amazon.

The survey also revealed that prices were more important for younger age groups than older generations. Millennials in their 20s and 30s cited lower prices as the main reason for shopping on Amazon (71 per cent and 70 per cent respectively), compared to 63 per cent of 50-somethings and 64 per cent of people over 60 years.

Having a vast product range was more important for older generations than younger generations, with the level of importance decreasing with age. For people in their 50s, a wider range of products would be the reason 58 per cent would shop on Amazon, whereas this was only important to 46 per cent of people in their 20s.

According to the survey, 18 per cent of respondents said they purchase from Amazon and will continue to do so when it launches in Australia.

Surprisingly, only 11 per cent of 20-somethings currently shop on Amazon, the lowest of any age group. This jumps up to 22 per cent of people in their 30s, 16 per cent of people in their 40s, and 19 per cent of over-50s.